Death Bringer
by Aria6
Summary: Yet another fantasy AU story! : Mwahaha... anyway, Axel is leaving a battlefield and comes across a lost little slave neko. Interesting things unfold! Sora/Axel and Roxas/Axel in the future. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

Axel sighed to himself as he rode away from the disaster that had once been a battlefield.

"I told them not to make him General. I told them. Does anyone listen? Of course not. Silly boy, you're only the oldest warrior this side of creation, what do you know." Axel shook his head with weary amusement as he remembered the scene in the command tent. "I need to start my own company, I really do." He'd been second in command of Illuch's Immortals and had spoken his mind in a way that day that had almost gotten him kicked out of the tent. But he was pretty sure that Illuch himself was dead, so who cared. Clearly his mercenary unit had been misnamed. "I could do a thousand times better than most of these SOB's. Or maybe not." Even if Illuch himself had spoken, they probably wouldn't have gotten Torma away from the General spot.

Unfortunately, while Torma had been competent and well-connected he hadn't been at all brilliant or flexible. And the enemy had been both. The rank and file on both sides had been mostly competent, so it had come down to leadership and initiative and that was where they had fallen short. The enemy had taken advantage of every hesitation and they'd come out reamed.

Axel wasn't worried at all about himself. His armor was splattered liberally with dried blood, so much that he was starting to attract flies, and his horse was equally soiled. But they were both a going concern, if a bit tired, and the main part of the enemies' army was concentrating on seizing their objectives and ransacking the baggage train. Not searching for little refugees like himself who were just heading out for brighter pastures. Axel actually had a fair amount of savings on him but most like him didn't. They spent their money immediately on wine and women.

"Hm?" Axel slowed his horse as he spotted a ruined cart up ahead. Several bodies were strewn around it, brutally murdered. Axel sneered as he spotted the emblems on the cart… more of a carriage, really. Some noble had been trying to escape, but how had they got ahead of him? Axel thought about it a moment and nodded to himself. He'd come from the opposite end of the battlefield, making his way around because this road led to the border of a neighboring country that would be relatively safe. Whoever had taken this carriage had no doubt had the same idea, but they'd been spotted. Probably because they were the tools in an ornate cart rather than a plain one, or just a horse. Deciding to stop and see if there was anything left in the wreckage, he tied up his horse with enough reign to let it browse and started scouting. If nothing else, the horse would be glad for the rest. It was more tired than him.

Axel searched the carriage quietly and thoroughly, but came up mostly empty. He did find a bag of grain which would be welcome for the horse and another of beef jerky that had been hidden under the carriage seat. Knawing on a bit of that, he suddenly froze as his erratic other senses flared to life.

The alien gifts he'd always had suddenly registered _fear_. Not his own fear, of course, a fear outside himself that felt absolutely terrified. And Axel could suddenly hear the beat of a heart, the quick, ragged breathing. Finishing his piece of jerky, he reached under the cart and yanked out what he found.

"Ah! No!" A little boy squirmed in his grip, dirty and bruised. Axel lifted his eyebrows as he spotted the flicking cat ears in the spiky brown hair. Then the boy got a good look at him and suddenly stopped struggling, blue eyes wide and surprised. "You're a neko?" Axel grinned, flicking his own red cat ears at the boy. He sounded like he would have been less surprised if Axel had been a naked maiden.

"Born that way, kitten. Now what are you doing here?" The child was much too young to be a soldier. He'd never found an army that desperate, the child looked like he was ten. Although Axel had the sense that he might be older. Neko-kin matured young but stayed cute looking for longer than humans. The boy shivered, looking down, and Axel looked him over thoughtfully. "…Oh." It was pretty clear what he was, now that Axel examined him. The golden slave chain at his throat looked like real gold, and his clothing was dark blue velvet, too rich for a cheap slave. The boy was an expensive little toy, no doubt belonging to one of the deceased men surrounding the carriage. And from the bruises on his wrists, not a terribly well treated toy, although the bruises on his forehead were likely from the carriage crashing. "I see. Well." Axel considered what he should do for a moment.

It was a bit of a puzzlement. The child was a slave and theoretically, he was the property of the man's heirs. However, in actual fact he was the property of whoever could find and keep him. For the moment, that was Axel. But Axel had no use for a rich man's toy. On the other hand, if he left the boy here he was probably going to starve or end up raped by some passing mercenary and then starve. Axel very much doubted the child had much in the way of wilderness survival skills, although he could be wrong about that. Still…

"Lovely." Axel sighed. "Come on, kitten. Have a piece of jerky." Axel let go of his wrist and handed him a piece of the meat, which the neko boy quickly devoured. He looked well fed, but probably hadn't eaten since this morning.

"Who are you?" The neko child said shyly, looking up at him with an oddly trusting air. It was like the boy had decided he was safe because he was a neko. Axel wondered if he could really be that innocent, but decided it didn't matter.

"I'm Axel. Got it memorized? And who are you?" Axel untied the horse, giving it a handful of grain as Sora watched him.

"I'm Sora." Sora squeaked a little as Axel boosted him up onto the horse, in front of the saddle so he could hold onto the boy. Then Axel mounted easily, putting the horse into motion. It started off obediently, twitching its tail at a few flies.

"Well Sora, we're heading to Immervale." Sora's ears perked up at that, and Axel wondered why. Had he been there? It was possible, it was right on the border. He could have been bought there. Sora glanced back at him, examining him with his big blue eyes, and Axel smiled at him.

"Axel? Can I ask you some questions?" Sora finally said after they had been riding for a while. Axel flicked his ears before responding.

"Sure. I might not answer, but you can always ask." It wasn't like his thoughts were very deep anyway, so Sora wasn't interrupting much.

"Were you a slave too?" Axel blinked, surprised, and flattened his ears a little before he snorted.

"Me? Never. I've been a mercenary longer than you've been alive. Why do you ask?" Sora blinked at that. Axel didn't look very old to him. He looked hardly nineteen, in fact, although he did have an older air about him.

"Well… it's just… most neko are slaves so…" Sora looked down, then up as Axel laughed.

"You haven't gotten around much, have you? Let me guess… you're from the Swartheld Plains and you went right to the auction after you were taken from some little village, right? And then some rich man bought you and all you've seen is his villa until he dragged you along to be his bitch in this war." Sora winced and hunched up, but didn't disagree with Axel's rendition of events. "You haven't seen much Sora. Most neko aren't slaves. Most neko from the Swartheld Plains are, but you can blame your great-grandparents for that."

"Huh?" Sora blinked. Axel took a deep breath, thinking of how to explain.

"Okay. This is the down and dirty guide to the Swartheld Plains, by Axel P. Bellatora."

"What does the P stand for?" Sora asked, distracted, and Axel paused to frown at the little brunette.

"I have no idea. Something that starts with P, probably. I didn't get much time to talk to the man who named me, since I killed him immediately. It's a long story. Bellatora means warlike, if you wanted to know." Sora paled slightly at that and nodded. "As I was saying, keep in mind that parts of this guide might be inaccurate. I might be a god in my sphere but I'm far from infallible and I tend to put my own personal spin on everything. So. How you heard of Rimbol the Unifier?"

"Oh of course!" Sora said, suddenly enthusiastic, and Axel had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Every neko from the Swartheld Plains reacted that way and he found it quite tedious. "He won us our freedom and made the Plains their own country!"

"And that is the problem in a nutshell." Sora turned to stare at him, looking a touch hurt and offended as Axel grinned. "Rimbol was a great man, Sora, don't get me wrong. He did an amazing thing, pulling all the clans and tribes of the Plains together to throw off the oppressors' yokes. Daring deeds, wonderful stuff, blahblahblah." Axel's tone suddenly hardened and Sora blinked. "The problem is, everything he did depended on him. His personality, his charisma, his ability to get all those fractious clan chiefs working together. His son managed to keep things together for a little while when he died, but that made things worse in my opinion. Maybe if it had fallen apart fast, people would have figured out they needed to do something." Axel drew a deep breath and reached into a saddlebag for a water bottle, taking a quick drink before offering it to Sora. The little neko took a long pull before giving him a quick thanks and handing it back. "Swartheld is the only real nation the neko have. And in the Axel guide to the world, it is a cocked up, perambulating disaster."

"But!" Sora couldn't help but sputter. Axel was doing drastic violence to his worldview. "It's a beautiful place to be! My village was wonderful!"

"I'm sure it was." Axel said dryly. "But you're here, a slave, and there's a reason for that. The reason is that the King of the Swartheld rules at the sufferance of the clan chiefs. He can't collect any taxes worth speaking of so he hasn't got an army. He's pretty much just another clan chief. And all the clan chiefs are busy warring with each other and in bed with the slavers… a lot of whom are neko's, oh you better believe it… and the chiefs are using the slavers to raid each other and destroy each other's farmers." Sora's mouth sagged open as Axel laughed, a rough, angry sound. "I bet if we could go back in time, we'd find out that whoever enslaved you was working for a rival clan chief. But it's not just that. Sora, tell me. How many of your relatives can you think of that have died in blood feuds?"

"Uh… seven?" Sora said after a bit of thought, and Axel nodded.

"I thought so. Sora, most neko outside of the Swartheld Plains can go through their whole lives without losing a family member that way. The way neko on the Plains go at each other is insane. The only reason no one has conquered the Plains is that all the neighboring countries have decided it would be way more trouble than it's worth. After all, if they conquered the Plains they'd have to get rid of the damn clan chiefs and start enforcing real order since murdering people is actually illegal most places. In times of peace, anyway." Axel added as he stared ahead. "In times of war, it goes out the window." Sora winced and nodded. He'd seen that already.

"How do you know so much about the Plains?" Sora was beginning to wonder if Axel really knew what he was talking about. But he seemed so certain. Axel grinned.

"I lived there for ten years. Couldn't stand it, but there was a price on my head. It's a long story. Anyway, I got intimately acquainted with blood feuds along the way. There's a price on my head in the Swartheld now, not that anyone has managed to collect it." Axel thought back fondly to that time. He'd pissed off a lot of people effortlessly. It had been fun.

"Oh." Sora seemed more than a little depressed now, and Axel ran a hand through his spiky brown hair.

"Look at the bright side, Sora. Whatever lies you've been told about humans enslaving us, free neko are common as hell. Not surprising, really. We're all human under the skin." Axel commented as he glanced around the road.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sora tilted his head, and Axel blinked.

"You don't know how neko were created?" Sora blinked and shook his head. "Good grief. Even in Swartheld, that was common knowledge when I lived there. Okay. Neko are the descendants of magical experiments on humans." Axel idly stroked Sora's ears as he talked. "We were meant to be adapted to living on the Plains. You know the crystals you sometimes find there? They give off a radiation that's poisonous to normal humans. Neko are immune to it. Another reason why no one's tried to take back the Plains. But basically, we're just humans with some magical frills built in. That's why we can mate with humans and have kittens with them."

"I never knew that." Sora was amazed by all the things he was learning in his brief time with Axel. His owner had never really talked to him like he was an intelligent being. What he'd had to say had mostly been commands… Sora shuddered faintly as he remembered it.

They rode through the rest of the day chatting about various things, although nothing as earth shattering as the initial subjects they'd touched on. Sora was amazed time and time again by how Axel seemed to know a bit about everything. He was like a worldly older brother to the young neko, and Sora was feeling very comfortable with Axel.

A bit too comfortable, although Sora didn't realize that. They finally made camp, and Axel brushed down his horse, putting a blanket on him and giving him a nosebag of grain. As Axel took care of that Sora gathered up dry branches for a fire, and Axel quickly started it with a flick of his wrist. Sora blinked at the fire magic, but didn't ask any questions, just enjoying the warmth of it. It could get rather chilly at night here and they were both lacking bedrolls. Sora blinked as he realized Axel was watching him, his bright green eyes glowing in the dim light.

"Sora, come here." Sora swallowed, licking his lips for a moment before obeying the older neko's command. He gasped and almost whimpered as Axel slid an arm around him, pulling Sora into his lap.

"Axel…" Sora said nervously. This was reminding of the man who had bought him, and the bad memories flashed behind his eyes. But Axel didn't immediately start touching him the way that man did. Instead, he gently stroked Sora's ears. Sora relaxed a little, wanting desperately to believe that Axel was just comforting him. That Axel didn't really want… that from him.

Then Axel began gently massaging the base of his tail with one hand, and Sora closed his eyes, oblivious to the thin whine that slipped out of him. Axel's hand felt so good there, so warm, comforting in his fur and hot against the patch of bare skin where his tail met his butt. Sora shivered faintly, his tail twitching in pleasure. Slowly, he realized there was something poking him, something hard and-

"A-Axel." Sora's eyes opened wide as he realized what that something was. His breathing suddenly speeded up, but in fear this time. Axel laughed softly, his hand still doing its magic on Sora's tail. "P-Please don't." Sora swallowed, breathless and suddenly aware of his own small erection. Axel hadn't touched it yet but… he shivered as he felt Axel's hot breath against his ear as the redhead spoke.

"Don't what, kitten?" Axel glanced down Sora and smiled. "I think you want me to." He could easily see the bulge forming in the little neko's pants. Keeping on hand firmly on the base of the boy's tail, he started undoing the pants and pulling them down.

"Please… I'm only thirteen…" Sora pleaded faintly, although he knew it was a dim hope that Axel would care about his age. He was old enough in the Plains. Axel snorted, amused.

"Sora. You're being really silly about this." Axel's voice was smooth and amused as he slid a hand down, easily stroking his erection to full stiffness. "You're my slave now. I might not have wanted a rich man's toy, but here you are and this is what you can do for me. Besides, who would you rather have… me, or some human who doesn't know how good _this_ feels?" Sora moaned as Axel lifted his tail and slowly drew a finger from his anus down his tail a bit. It felt like a jolt had gone straight to his groin and Sora's cheeks suddenly flushed. His other owner had never made him feel like this. Axel made a small, pleased sound as Sora shifted slightly, pushing against his hand. Sora whimpered as Axel pulled his hands away, then shivered as he felt the older neko opening his pants to free his own erection. They were both mostly clothed, except their pants, but that was… very arousing, actually. Sora swallowed, feeling terribly turned on by everything that was happening. He wanted to plead with Axel, beg him to stop, but at the same time his teenage hormones really did want more from the red headed neko. And he didn't think Axel was going to be stopping anyway. "Hm. I lost my bags with the train so I'm fresh out of lube. This will have to do." Sora gasped as he felt Axel's fingers, wet with saliva, slowly fingering his entrance. He closed his eyes, trying to relax at that all too familiar sting. But soon Axel found something inside him that made him whine again, and Sora closed his eyes, hearing the older neko chuckle. "You like that, huh?"

Axel took his time, enjoying every whine and movement of the boy in his lap. Sora was innocently making things very interesting as his tail slid over Axel's arousal. Axel finally decided the boy was ready and gripped the base of Sora's tail, lifting the little neko and pressing him down slowly onto his swollen member.

Sora gasped, eyes widening as the sheer _size_ of Axel registered. He was big and it hurt, even though Axel had tried to lubricate it as best he could. Sora whimpered in pain, but Axel took his time, pausing to soothe him and stroke his erection, keeping him hard. Soon the older neko was completely sheathed in the younger, and Axel groaned at the feeling of wet, tight heat surrounding him. Unable to hold back anymore, he began thrusting into Sora. The little neko yelped in pain… then gasped raggedly as Axel found his special spot again.

"Oh!" Axel chuckled softly at the surprised sound, aiming for that spot and hitting it again and again as Sora writhed in his lap. "Axel! Oh that feels- ah!" Axel had to bite his lip and think about unpleasant things as Sora suddenly tightened around him. The little neko was panting and begging and along with the tight heat, it was driving Axel right to the edge. Gripping the little one's hips, Axel lifted him up and then yanked him down to meet his thrust. Sora cried out in pleasure, fingers digging into Axel's knees. Axel laughed then groaned as Sora tightened again.

"Sora, you're going to make me come right now if you keep that up." Axel panted out, but Sora wasn't listening. So he concentrated on making the little one release first, stroking his erection and gently squeezing before flicking Sora's tip. That was too much for the younger neko, and he released with a scream. Axel gasped, eyes going wide as Sora tightened powerfully around him and the red head came in a rush of pleasure that left him breathless. For a long moment, the two neko just stayed tangled together, Sora relaxing and curling up in Axel's arms as Axel went limp inside him. It felt strangely good, having the older neko behind and inside him like this. "Mmm." Axel finally sighed, looking down at the little brunette in his arms. Sora looked so happy, so content. Axel's green eyes were a little sad as he gently stroked Sora's ears, making the boy sigh. He was just so innocent and trusting. Too innocent for all the ills of the world. It was sad, and Axel knew that he probably wasn't going to make it better. Not for long, anyway.

He was a death bringer, and he always had been.


	2. Immervale

"Immervale." Axel was unutterably relieved by the sight of the city in front of them. Sora nodded with feeling.

The travel to the city had been hard. They'd found a river and Axel had finally gotten a chance to wash all the blood off, but that had almost been their downfall when a patrol of the enemy had gone by. Normally that wouldn't have been a huge problem for a mercenary. Defeated opponents were usually given the option to enlist, particularly mercenaries. But Axel was pretty damn sure that the enemy wouldn't be offering or accepting surrenders from him. He'd done something guaranteed to piss them off mightily, and only the fact that they thought he was dead was saving the neko from having an all new price on his head.

To add misery to fear, they had run out of food yesterday. Axel had put out snares but his luck had been poor, and the chipmunk he'd managed to take down with a sling had only emphasized how hungry they were. Split equally with Sora, it had been a light snack at best. But now that they were in Immervale, there would be food, beds and baths to be had. Axel couldn't wait. And speaking of which…

"Hop down and hold the horse, would you Sora?" Sora blinked but obeyed, sliding down off the horse easily. He'd been getting the hang of riding a bit, although he still couldn't mount without Axel's help. Sora's mouth watered as he saw Axel walk to a small street vendor selling sausages in a bun from a cart. "Oh hey, what you want on yours?"

"Ketchup please!" Sora replied happily and Axel came back a moment later with two hot dogs. Sora blinked at the mustard and sliced onions on Axel's wiener. It looked sort of gross to him, but if that was the way Axel liked it he wasn't going to mention it. Axel handed him both hot dogs, boosting him back onto the horse and mounting before taking his own sausage back, eating it with one hand and holding the reigns in the other. The horse, an extremely well trained war horse, tolerated this easily. Axel was an expert at guiding him with his knees in any case. "Thanks Axel." Sora said as he finished off his hot dog. He was still hungry, but feeling considerably better already.

"You're welcome." Axel smiled as Sora looked up at him, his bright blue eyes shining. Then he sighed to himself. Sora was proving to be rather disturbing. Axel would have been pleased enough with all kinds of reactions from the little slave, but adoration wasn't one of them.

_I never would have imagined a pleasure slave could be so innocent._ Axel mused to himself as they navigated the city easily. He had a particular inn in mind. If any of the Immortals had made it out alive, they would eventually come to the Broken Elbow Inn. So named because of the unfortunate way the bouncers had of settling fights, it was a common hangout for a certain class of mercenary. Illuch's Immortals had been firmly within that class. _It's almost ridiculous, that a slave boy would confuse good sex with love like this._

That was the part of Sora's reactions that made Axel truly uneasy. He wasn't in love with the little neko. Axel was getting fond of him in a way, and the sex was truly mind-blowing, but it was still just sex. The redhead didn't want to look into Sora's eyes and see that soft trust and warmth. Axel didn't think Sora could really love him, in less than a week, but he could tell the brunette was crushing hard. Breaking his trust… well, that was simply out of the question if Axel didn't want to feel like a complete asshole. But that left the question of what he was supposed to do with the kid.

A traveling mercenary could have a companion, but Axel had never wanted to be the sole support for someone else. If nothing else, he had a nasty habit of getting into bad situations that tended to kill off anyone near him. That would be a crying shame. The simplest thing to do would be to sell Sora. The sweet little neko would fetch a great price, but that was the action of a complete asshole. Axel could imagine how Sora would look at him if he did that, and it was enough to make his soul shrivel at the thought. No, that was out. There was another option, but it depended on Sora and Axel hadn't had time to explore it with all the traveling. Now that they were in Immervale maybe he could take a closer look at it.

"Finally." Axel was very relieved as they reached the inn. It was a good inn in the bad side of town, and the sign on over the door graphically demonstrated the name of the place. Axel took the horse to the stable attached to the inn, and helped the stable boy get the horse unsaddled, slinging his bags over his shoulders. "See to it that he gets some good mash, hey?" Axel tipped the boy a couple coppers, and the urchin grinned at him.

"I'll take care of it, sir." Axel patted the horse on the neck before going back into the inn. Sora took his free hand, and Axel couldn't help but smile, giving him a squeeze. It was probably just encouraging Sora's crush, but the way the little neko did things like that was just too endearing.

The innkeeper, an older man with jet black hair and a few truly wicked scars, stared then grinned as he spotted them. "Axel! You bastard, everyone said you were dead. I told them you were too mean to die." Sora had to let go of his hand as the man hugged him, then thumped him on the back. Axel laughed, punching the man lightly on the shoulder.

"Thanks Aemon. I'd like a room for a week, maybe longer. What's the rate?" They dickered for a few moments and finally settled on six silvers with stabling, breakfast and supper included. "Expensive. You getting a lot of refugees?" Aemon nodded.

"Yeah, a lot of mercs like yourself are floating in and swelling the town. There's a whole camp outside the East gate of ones who can't pay anything. I think some of the Immortals are there." Axel's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Don't worry, your Riku has been showing up every night. I'm sure he'll be around to say hi."

"Riku!" Axel was very pleased at that news. The silver haired human boy was a deadly fighter and a wonderful lieutenant. "That's some good news. I was afraid he would be dead." Aemon laughed, shaking his head.

"He thinks you're the one who's dead. He's going to be happy to find out otherwise, but you better gird your loins, boy. As soon as he finds you the Immortals become your problem." Axel winced theatrically. "That damn Raven is still around, too. Make her pay her tab, would you?"

"I'll try, but no promises." Raven was the most enigmatic woman Axel had ever met, although she had a certain understated sense of humor when you finally got to know her. He wasn't surprised she had survived. She was a squad leader and easily as deadly a blade as Riku, and unlike some she seemed to have ice in her heart during battle. She would have realized when the war was lost and held her squad together as they made a break. Axel would have done the same for the company as a whole, if he could have, but he'd been separated from them by that time. "So can these poor mercenaries get some food and something to eat? Please?" Axel put a wheedling note into his voice, and Aemon laughed, showing them to a table.

"Certainly! I remember you like the mushrooms." Axel grinned and nodded. Sautéed mushrooms with spices were his favorite dish in the world. "I'll bring you out some of those right away, they're fast. For the main course we have beef stew, chicken dumplings, eel noodles or liver pie. Don't take the pie, we only keep it for the rankers who won't touch anything else."

"I remember." And he did. Axel had tried the pie once on a dare, and wished he hadn't. "I'll take the chicken dumplings. Sora?"

"I'll have that too." Sora said shyly and the innkeeper nodded before leaving to shout to the kitchen. Axel was grateful for Aemon's tact in not asking where he'd gotten the little neko. Sora clearly wasn't a mercenary or even a squire, with his stained velvets and gold chain. Axel made a mental note to get him a silver or bronze one. Gold was just too conspicuous on a slave, although mercenaries often wore it. But then, mercenaries wore their savings and would never use them to adorn a slave. That was for the rich. Axel reached up to rub his throat, feeling the lack of his own necklaces and pendants. He'd lost quite a bit of his fortune in the dust up, although fortunately his belt pouch had been left intact.

"Here you go." Aemon dropped a couple mugs of frothing brew on the table, along with a platter of fried mushrooms. Axel grinned in pleasure. He hadn't asked for the brew, but he hadn't needed to. Aemon knew exactly what he liked. Sora sipped it cautiously and gasped at the deep, malty taste of the lager. Axel split the mushrooms evenly with Sora, and the boy clearly enjoyed them a great deal, licking his fork clean when they were done. But they were both still very hungry from nearly two days without food. Sora beamed as the larger dishes of chicken dumplings came out. It was just as delicious as the mushrooms and Sora looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. Axel was definitely feeling the same way.

"Bet this is better than what you got with that noble," Axel said teasingly. "Did he feed you nothing but fish?" Sora blinked, surprised.

"Y-Yes. How did you know?" He was surprised by that, and Axel laughed.

"A lot of humans seem to think that because we have cat ears and tails, we all adore fish. It's like humans from Illegia always get served pasta when someone's trying to impress them. Which is pretty stupid, since the pasta we have here isn't a patch on the stuff the Illegians make, but there you go." Axel swallowed another piece of chicken, smiling. Then he frowned as Sora didn't smile back and just looked down into his food.

"Axel, could you do something for me?" Axel blinked, surprised, and tilted his head to one side. Sora swallowed hard before looking up, his heart in his eyes. "Could you find my brother for me?"

"Your brother?" Axel echoed the neko's words, and inwardly cursed. This was exactly the kind of thing he didn't want to get dragged into. "Sora. I assume he's a slave too. I don't need any slaves, let alone two, and I haven't got the money." That was almost a lie, but not really. Axel did have the money but he was going to desperately need it to pull together what was left of the Immortals. He certainly didn't have it to spend on another sex slave.

"I-I have some money." Axel's ears flicked in surprise. He'd never actually searched Sora, but he hadn't thought the child had anything valuable on him. Slaves were never actually given money, so what could Sora be referring to? Axel blinked as Sora blushed, and tugged at his necklace, revealing what had been hidden against the back of his neck. It was a sapphire and diamond pendant and Axel whistled softly as he examined it. "I'm sorry I hid it from you." Sora looked down, clearly frightened he would be angry, but Axel laughed.

"I'm kind of relieved you did! If you had handed this over to me right away I'd have thought you were nuts." It was nice to see that Sora wasn't quite as unworldly as Axel had thought. Axel considered the necklace thoughtfully for a moment. "Keep that hidden… no, actually, if you trust me let me keep it for you. It'll be safer." Sora nodded and took off his necklace to remove the pendant, then hesitated.

"You'll use it to buy my brother?" Axel hesitated, chewing his lip for a moment. The pendant was worth a bit but they'd never get full value, and a good little slave like Sora was expensive.

"Sora, you must have been really expensive. I don't know if the pendant will be enough. Sora?" Sora was looking down, shivering faintly.

"He's not expensive." Sora said so softly Axel had to lean forward a bit to hear him. "I-I gave in but he wouldn't stop fighting. I told him if he didn't stop he'd- but he didn't listen. I don't know if he's still…" Sora stopped, his eyes filling with silent tears, and Axel winced.

"Oh. Okay then." Axel knew the kind of slave Sora was describing. Some new slaves wouldn't cooperate without punishments even most slavers would consider extreme. If Sora was lucky, his brother had been purchased by the kind of boy brothel that didn't mind tying a boy down to a bed, or whipping him into shape. If he was unlucky, his brother was dead. Theoretically, buying slaves specifically to kill them was illegal. Enforcing that wasn't too easy, though. "In that case, if I can find him I'll buy him for you and use anything left over to take care of you both. Okay?" Sora looked at him trustingly and nodded. "Now, finish your supper before it gets cold."

The inn quickly filled up as they ate, and Sora squeaked as someone suddenly fetched up against their table. Axel looked up and grinned as he saw the aquamarine eyes and silvery hair.

"Riku! Long time no-GACK!" The silver haired human was suddenly hugging the life out of Axel, who coughed and almost choked. Riku was _strong._

"You asshole! We thought you were dead!" Axel blinked as he realized Riku was close to crying. "Never do that again!"

"I kind of had to, Riku." Axel said reasonably, but patted him on the shoulder. "I'll try not to worry you next time." Riku snorted, pulling up a chair and glancing at Sora quickly before turning his attention back to Axel.

"It's not me that's the problem. Half the surviving Immortals have already taken off. We're down to the hard core now." Riku sounded almost despairing. "We were hoping against hope that Illuch might make it. They know I don't have the experience to reform the company. But you do, Axel. You can put it back together again." Axel frowned faintly, considering. He'd been saving up to start forming his own company, but taking over what was left of the Immortals would be better, really. They had a base up against the Napali Mountains and even a small town built around it. There were even some savings in the bank, which would help when they started recruiting.

"How bad is the damage?" Axel knew it would be bad. The battle had gotten intense and the Immortals had tried hard. Too hard, really, and it had been largely Axel's fault. But he'd seen an opportunity to win the battle and had needed to take it. If Torma had just reacted in time, they could have had it. Riku sighed.

"Bad. We're down to about thirty." Axel winced. The Immortals had numbered two hundred before. They had been a small company, but elite. "We have most of the really critical people though. Demyx is a going concern, Raven and Hayner are a go, and Seifer is still with us, fortunately or unfortunately." Axel grinned at that. He was an excellent warrior but Seifer mostly had friends in his own squad. The rest of the Immortals would probably have been happier without him. "The biggest losses were Tesha and Illuch. You can take Illuch's spot, but replacing Tesha is going to be really hard. Demyx is filling in for now." Axel winced and nodded. Tesha had been the head of the various magical specialists the Immortals had recruited and she'd been powerful. Replacing her was doing to be difficult and perhaps impossible. Demyx could take over managing the others but he was a healing and water wizard, not a maestro of destruction and underhanded tricks like Tesha.

"I'm just glad Demyx is still here." Replacing a good healer was even worse than replacing a powerful mage, in Axel's opinion. "How many do you think we'll get straggling in over the next week?"

"Honestly? Maybe another fifty. Things got crazy there at the end." Riku said wearily. "We had to break into squads and get out that way. Please Axel, help?" Riku understood that Axel was probably feeling a temptation to just go join another company. Axel grinned.

"Of course! I've always wanted my own company. Sure, we got reamed but it's hardly the first time is it? And Illuch was good but he wasn't that good. I'd've told them where to stick it when they put Torma in charge. Aemon said you guys are camping outside of town?" Riku nodded.

"We're down to personal money at the moment, unless you have some of the company coffers?" Axel nodded and opened his belt pouch, pulling out a few treasury scripts. Riku looked them over and registered pure relief. "Thank god. This will buck everyone up almost as much as having you back. Oh, Axel… who is this?" Now that business was mostly settled, Riku turned his attention to the little neko who had been watching their conversation with shy curiosity.

"This is Sora." Axel took a deep drink from his mug and signaled one of the barmaids to bring a refill, and another for Riku. "I found him on the way out in a wrecked carriage." Riku's gaze settled on the golden chain, and nodded. The slave chain was easy to identify. "We need recruits anyway, so I was thinking of teaching him. He's older than he looks." Riku blinked, looking at Sora dubiously for a moment. "Or see if he's got any talent and put him over to Demyx if he does."

"That might be better. Sorry kid, but you don't seem like a killer to me." Quite the opposite. Although looks could be deceiving. Sora stared at him wide-eyed at that, and Riku grinned, ruffling his hair and making him squeak. "Actually, you look cute as a button."

"He's even cuter in bed." Axel said with a grin, and Riku laughed as Sora blushed. "I need to find his brother though. Maybe Demyx will be able to help with that." Magic would be the quickest way to find Sora's lost brother. Trying to find any slave by records was a lost cause, let alone a cheap one. And this way they wouldn't have to pay a wizard to help. Riku raised his eyebrows, then shrugged. If Axel wanted a second slave, that was his business.

"I'm sure he can. Come to the campsite tomorrow morning? I assume you're staying here?" Axel nodded and Riku grinned, touching the script with one finger. "Now that everyone doesn't have to worry about food money, maybe we'll be able to join you." Axel shook his head.

"No, don't. As soon as my week is up here, I'll be joining you." He didn't think Aemon would be willing to give his money back, which was fair enough. "The prices here are getting high."

"For food, too." Riku finished up his drink and stood. "I better be getting back to tell everyone the good news. See you tomorrow, Axel."

"Tomorrow, Riku." Sora watched Riku go curiously. He hadn't seen a lot of humans, really. His owner had kept him fairly secluded even when he'd taken him to war.

"I didn't know humans could have hair that color." Sora thought it was very pretty, too. Axel nodded.

"It's common in Illegia, but nowhere else. Riku's family came from there originally." Axel looked up with a smile as one of the barmaids brought something else to the table. It was a small honey cake with nuts and raisins. "Thank you so much." He hadn't been expecting that, but Aemon did like him. Sora beamed, devouring his quickly.

When they were completely finished the meal and feeling good from the beer, they both had a bath in the nearby bathhouse. That cost another silver, expensive but very much worth it. Sora giggled and splashed like a child, a bit flushed from his beer. Axel laughed and washed his back, then Sora laughed and returned the favor. Sora cuddled up behind him, and Axel suddenly blinked as he realized the little neko was aroused. Axel turned around, pulling Sora into his arms as the brunette smiled sweetly at him before lowering a hand to between Axel's legs. Axel grunted, surprised. Sora had never been quite this forward before.

"Sora, we're in public." Axel said, amused. Sora's smile widened.

"So?" Axel's eyebrows lifted at that reply and he searched Sora's face for a moment. He wouldn't have imagined anyone could get drunk from two beers, but this was odd. Maybe Sora was just buzzed. That was certainly possible, since he'd likely never drunk alcohol before in his life.

"That might not bother you, Sora, but I prefer to do that sort of thing in private." Sora pouted cutely, but left off his stroking. Axel was glad of that. Even if it didn't bother Sora, he didn't want to have a boner in the public baths.

"We're going to have a good time later." Sora whispered in his ear, and Axel couldn't help but shiver at the warm promise in his voice. "Thank you so much, Axel."

"We haven't found your brother yet, Sora." Axel had to point out. This almost felt like Sora was trying to reward him, and he hadn't earned it yet. Sora shook his head.

"Not for that. For being a decent person." Sure, Axel had taken advantage of him, but Sora had realized that it was expecting too much to think a mercenary wouldn't. And Axel had been nice about it, really. And now he was going to save Roxas, where most people would have just taken the pendant and beaten him for hiding it in the first place.

"Ah. Okay." That was fair enough. Axel cupped Sora's cheek with a smile. "Just save it for later."

This was going to be a good night.


	3. My Fucking Balls!

Bright and early the next morning, Axel and Sora went to the Immortals camp. Maybe a little too early. Sora had fulfilled his promise of a fun filled night, and they were both a touch tired but still eager to get started. Axel wanted to start getting the Immortals back into functioning shape and they both wanted to find Sora's brother.

"Axel!" There was a ragged cheer from the survivors as Axel rode into the camp, then swung down off his horse, grinning. The horse snorted, irritated, as humans clustered a bit too close and started greeting Axel. "About time, fucker!" That was a tall man with close cropped blond hair and a scar on his face. He punched Axel roughly in the arm, grinning. Sora stared, wide-eyed. He was wearing a trench-coat that had probably once been white, but was looking tattered and grey and was marked with old bloodstains. A shorter woman darted past him easily, giving Axel a tight hug. She had chin length black hair, cut off so crisply it looked like it had been done by a razor blade. Her features were fine and delicate, and she was wearing green goggles and wearing a red beret. She reached up to adjust the goggles as she spoke.

"I can't believe you survived. I could have sworn that wizard took your head off." Axel decided not to point out that she was entirely correct. That was how he'd lost his jewelry savings. "I will have to burn some incense at the Enlightened One's altar for answering my prayers." Axel grinned at that. Raven was a firm believer in the Enlightened One, which didn't make a lot of sense to him since she was one of his deadliest assassins and the Enlightened One preached about peace and unity with the world. Raven just said that no one could be perfect, and she was looking forward to making more progress in her next incarnation.

"Since it was me you were praying for, maybe you should burn some brandy- woah!" A slender man in black was suddenly glomping him. Axel yelped as he almost lost his balance and tumbled into the horse, which snorted again. "Demyx! Come on, ease up!" As if that was some kind of bizarre signal, all the other survivors clustered in to touch and hug him. Raven did the practical thing, grabbing the horses reigns and leading it away before it could kick someone to death. Sora quickly slid off the horse, walking over to watch the meeting. It made him feel rather sad. Axel had so many people who cared about him, but everyone who cared about Sora and Roxas was back in their village, if the village still existed anymore.

After Axel had greeted everyone there was a great deal of serious discussions about what the Immortals' should do, but Sora found it hard to pay attention, his tail twitching with impatience. He wanted to find and save Roxas, and it looked like this could go on forever. Axel seemed to realize it too, and raised a hand.

"Look, everyone, we really need to talk this over but Riku isn't here and I have something else I really need to do. Demyx, can you help me find this kid's brother?" Axel gestured over Sora, who came to them hesitantly. "I promised I'd help him." Most of the mercenaries drew some very accurate conclusions as soon as they looked at Sora, and a small laugh ran through the audience. Sora blushed brightly as Seifer grinned at them both.

"You finally got a sex toy, Axel? About time you got laid regularly." Demyx was ignoring the byplay, gesturing for one of the apprentices to fetch his tools. Axel just looked smug.

"Not something I've ever had a problem with Seifer, and you know it." Axel ruffled Sora's hair playfully. "Don't pay attention to this tool, he's just jealous." Seifer laughed as Demyx opened a bag with his magical tools, cutting the banter short.

"Now, child, I will need a bit of blood from you to focus the scrying." Demyx said to Sora, handing him a needle. Sora swallowed and nodded, watching as Demyx filled the bowl full of a strange, slightly smelly liquid. Then he pricked his thumb, letting the blood drip into the bowl. "That's fine."

"Sir? If it's okay for me to ask, what is that?" Sora asked hesitantly, pointing at the liquid in the bowl. Demyx stirred it with one finger before answering.

"Rock oil. It's very good for this because it's reflective and has no living properties, unlike most oils. Now…" Demyx cast his spell as Sora stared at the waters in the bowl. Sora suddenly made an anguished sound as the waters cleared to reveal a very unpleasant scene. Sora could recognize Roxas instantly, despite the bruises and blood. The little blond neko was tied to a bed and shivering, without even a blanket to cover his nakedness. There was dried blood and semen smeared across his thighs and belly, and Sora swallowed hard. He could only imagine what Roxas had been going through, and it made a knife of guilt twist in his belly. He'd avoided all that by just giving in and doing what he was told, but now he felt like a coward. The dead, hopeless look on Roxas' face was so hard to look at. Axel gently squeezed Sora's shoulder and Sora had to look away, burying his face in Axel's chest. Demyx only shook his head, his lips thinning a bit, and no one else could see anything at all in the oil. "This doesn't tell us much. Let me see…" Demyx began manipulating the viewpoint, gradually twisting and turning it so it could exit the room and get a view of the place from the outside. "Aubuna's. I've never heard of it."

"I have." Seifer volunteered, then spat on the ground. "It's where you go if you like your whores thin, cheap and desperate and don't care about getting diseases. I always tell my squad to never, ever go there." Axel nodded. That was exactly the kind of thing a good squad leader took care of, and Seifer was one of the best, despite the rest of his personality.

"Fortunately, I can take care of any diseases he may have contracted." Demyx said brightly, then quickly glanced around at the other mercenaries. "Not that that means the rest of you can go catch them!" There was a laugh. They all knew Demyx was right to worry about that, mercenaries being the way they were.

"Okay." Axel thought for a moment, and then smiled evilly. "I don't see any reason to pay much, considering what we'll have to do to get the kid healthy again. Seifer, gather your boys. I bet they'll be willing to give him to us for a song when they see you." Axel had anticipated having to spend a bit for Roxas, but this was better. Seifer's squad could look truly intimidating without even trying. When they were trying, they were scary as hell. Seifer grinned and barked a few orders, getting his team into gear. Axel frowned as he saw they were on foot, then shrugged. It wasn't too surprising that most of the horses hadn't made it out of the battle. The Immortals were medium cavalry, though, so they'd have to purchase a lot of remounts to get back in business. Axel quickly decided to leave his own horse and walk with Seifer. It would take just as long either way and he could do with stretching his legs.

"Good job keeping your squad together." Axel complimented Seifer as they walked back to town. From what he could see, Seifer was only missing a few people. The blond man shook his head.

"Pure luck. We were on the West side when you punched a hole in the enemy ranks, so we couldn't follow and didn't get trapped when Torma and Ravas didn't follow the way they should have." Seifer spat on the road. It was one of his favorite expressions of disgust. "Ravas. I do so hate the timid ones." Axel nodded grimly. Ravas had been one of Torma's cronies, and timid was precisely the word for him.

"I wish I hadn't done it, but I needed to stop those wizards from opening up in a greater circle." Seifer nodded. Magic was far from the god of the battlefield, largely because wizards tended to cancel each other out, but Torma had been weak on wizards. That had left an opening for the enemy to try some impressive battle magics… until Axel had managed to punch through the lines and take out most of the wizards. Unfortunately for them, in order to direct a magic like that you had to be close to the action. That was how they had lost Tesha, in fact. She'd been within arrow range.

"Those wizards were surprised as hell." Seifer grinned nastily. "Bet they never expected to run into something like you." Axel laughed. One of his more reliable abilities was an innate ability to make any offensive magics directed against him go completely futz. That had a few bizarre and negative consequences that had taken some time for him to figure out, but in general it was an absolutely wonderful thing. He'd sliced through the wizard's protections like a hot knife through butter, and nothing they had done could touch him. Until one of them had used the spell the circle had meant to use against the entire army just on him. There were limits even to his powers, and that had gotten through. But Axel wasn't going to mention that. It was amazing what people could forget seeing when they were confronted with evidence that they must have been mistaken.

"I wonder if I'll have another price on my head when they figure out I'm alive? Although that would make them really sore winners." Still, it was possible. Axel was pretty sure some of those wizards he'd gotten had been nobles from good families. Nobles tended to encourage magic use in their children as long as they had even a spec of the talent. Demyx was the son of a very minor noble, in fact.

"Axel?" Sora said shyly, and Axel nodded to him. "What do you have prices on your head for…?" Axel grinned as he felt the other mercenaries listening. They didn't know a huge amount about his past either, since Axel didn't like to boast. It tended to draw people's attention to his age. But Sora's was just too cute.

"Oh, well, let me think. In the Swartheld Plains I helped the Mondragon clan win their feud with Silverblade, then betrayed them to three of their enemies. Yeah, I didn't like any of them. Almost started a civil war, which is what got me outlawed. They really should have seen it coming though." Axel had been practically blackmailed into helping, and that had pissed him off. If the Mondragon had treated him well he might have gotten past that, but they hadn't. "I have a huge, huge price on my head in Riastu." Sora blinked, and Seifer lifted his eyebrows. That a very rich, peaceful island, not a place mercenaries usually ended up. "I went there when I was between companies, it's a long story. But the short of it is that they have this midwinter festival where it's possible to meet the royal family jumping over bonfires and such. How was I to know the girl was a princess who slipped her guards?"

"Oh Axel, you didn't." Seifer winced. He knew the downside of Axel's magical immunity was that anti-pregnancy charms were considered offensive and tended to go futz. Axel grinned.

"I so did. Hey, I was drunk. Anyway, there's a pair of twin neko kits in the royal family there now and they've both got red hair. I write to them sometimes. Their mom still likes me, even if the rest of the palace wants my head on a stick." Axel scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "Other than that I have a price on my head in Glendark." His tone turned hard and cold. "My best friend at the time was murdered, given as a sacrifice to a water demi-god while I was taking care of something. When I came back they were having a celebration, they were _laughing_ about it. So I blocked all the doors in the village and burnt the entire damn thing to the ground." Axel knew he'd gone a bit far. He'd killed plenty of children, but he just couldn't find it in him to care. The entire village had been guilty and he'd been enraged and grieving. Sora winced at that and gripped Axel's hand, giving him a comforting squeeze.

"Too much evil in the world." Seifer said as they walked into the town. "Follow me, everyone." He had been born in Immervale and knew exactly where everything was, even though he'd never frequented Aubuna's. Seifer led them through back alleys into the bad part of town, and Axel coughed as he caught a whiff of the slaughterhouses. Sora shivered and moved closer to him. One of Seifer's squad, Fuujin, cursed as she stepped in something that defied description. Although gross came close.

"This place fucking sucks, you know?" That was Raijin, and he looked up at Aubuna's front before blanching. "And the whores are scary." Axel glanced at the women and boys on the balconies and could only agree. This was not the high rent district and it showed all too clearly.

"Can we help you gentlemen?" A small, weaselly man asked with an insinuating smile. A smile that quickly wilted under the combined stares of Seifer's squad before Axel took pity on the man.

"Yeah. You can get us whoever runs this dump. We have some business." The man swallowed before ducking inside. Soon, a hard eyed madam was standing outside. She looked like she might have come up through the ranks… she was older, scarred and missing one eye from some long ago fight.

"What do you want?" She asked bluntly. Axel rested a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"We're looking for this kid's brother. His name is Roxas and a scrying showed us you had him here." Axel's tone hardened. "Make sure you give him some pants before you bring him out." In a place like this, he was sure he had to specify. The madam sneered, not in the least bit intimidated.

"It'll cost extra. Marcus! Get Roxas down here. Take Via and Mali with you." She ordered. "Put some pants on him and try not to hit him too much." Axel lifted his eyebrows at that. They were anticipating a fight from the child he'd seen? If so, he was very feisty. Axel glanced down at Sora, who looked unhappy but not surprised.

"Your brother must be quite a firecracker." For a young neko slave, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing… if they were physically mature and ready to be bought by the army. For younger neko, it was a very bad thing. Customers to most whorehouses liked to not get bitten and have the whores at least pretend to enjoy it. Aubuna's was a bit below that, though. There was a bit of swearing and a screech before a strong man dragged out a struggling, hissing neko boy.

"Roxas!" The boy suddenly froze, staring at them with wide blue eyes as Sora ran up and hugged him tightly. The man kept a strong grip on Roxas' wrists, but it wasn't really necessary now as he looked at Sora in confusion.

"Sora…? How?" Roxas blinked, then his expression suddenly hardened. "I see you've been doing well." Sora flinched at the tone in his voice, the loathing. He knew Roxas didn't accept his choice to give in. Axel suddenly stepped forward.

"Hey, you watch it. If Sora hadn't done what he did, he wouldn't be in a position to buy you and get you out of here." Axel turned his attention to the madam as Roxas blinked. "Speaking of which, how much for him?"

"Five silver." She immediately replied. Axel sneered.

"Oh please. Don't try my patience. His condition is terrible and god knows what diseases he has. Five copper." She sneered right back at him, unintimidated.

"So you'd leave without him?" Seifer's entire squad glared at her, but she seemed insensate. Axel sighed.

"No. I'd kill you all, take him and burn the place to the ground. It's not like anyone would give a shit unless the fire spread." Her lips compressed into a thin line. That was indeed the case.

"Fine. A silver with the pants thrown in." She growled out, and Axel nodded, fishing out a coin. He'd gotten ten silvers for the pendant, so that left quite a bit to outfit the two neko. The man released Roxas, who rubbed his wrists for a moment before hugging Sora back.

"Sorry Sora." Axel heard him mutter as they left, and Axel frowned as the blond boy winced. He could hardly walk and he had no shoes.

"Come here kid." Roxas looked at him distrustfully, but walked over. Then tried to bite him as Axel attempted to pick him up. "Hey, watch it! I'm just trying to help. You're walking like someone shoved a red hot poker up your ass."

"Roxas, you can trust him, he's nice. He really is." Sora gently coaxed his brother until Roxas finally let Axel carry him. Axel smiled faintly. The neko boy felt rather nice in his arms, although it would be better when the child was fed up and had had a very long bath.

"Don't think this means I'm your bitch." Roxas growled, and Axel couldn't help but laugh. His voice was so young it was cute.

"Kitten, if I make you my bitch you'll be screaming for it by the time we're done." Axel smiled at the anger in the blond's face, and lifted him up a little to whisper in his ear. "Sora screams for it all the time."

Stars burst behind his eyes as sickening pain lurched through him, all the worse for being so unexpected. Axel was vaguely aware of a crunching sound and realized that Roxas had just broken his nose. Dropping the neko, Axel automatically reached for his nose and wasn't ready for the hard little foot that kicked him right in the crotch.

"ARGH!" Axel collapsed completely as Seifer swore and Sora cried out. Someone pressed a cloth to his face, trying to staunch the bleeding as Axel whimpered. As the world stopped spinning and the pain began to lessen, Axel looked up to see Roxas being held firmly in Seifer's grip. "Oh my fucking balls. What did I do to you?" Roxas hissed and spat, writhing as he tried to break free.

"Roxas, stop, please!" Sora sounded close to tears. "He's really nice, I like him, please please stop!" Sora clearly didn't know what to do to make his brother stop acting this way. Roxas glared at the brunette.

"He's just using you, just like all of them! Wake up, Sora!" Roxas hissed, and Sora shook his head.

"No he's not Roxas. If he were using me he'd have taken my pendant and kept it and sold me instead of using the money to buy you. He's nice, he really is, can't you give them a chance?" Roxas paused his struggles, breathing heavily as he stared at Sora.

"I don't trust people the way you do, Sora." He finally said, then growled. "But… fine. I'll give them a chance." He glowered at Axel, who was pressing a cloth to his nose now. Axel tried to lift his eyebrows back.

"Well, I'm not gonna carry you." His nose was already swelling and impeding his speech, but the pain between his legs had gone down to a dull ache. "Seifer, can you handle it?"

"Yeah. And kid, I'm not as lovable and forgiving as Axel. If you do that to me I'll castrate you, got it?" Roxas looked mutinous, but nodded. Axel shook his head as he managed to stand with Fuujin's help.

The kid really was a firecracker. But that might make him ideal as a recruit, despite his size. They would just have to see.


	4. Love or Hate?

"What happened to you?" Riku watched with a frown as Demyx patched up Axel's nose. Roxas glowered at the silver hair from the blankets he was laying in, but Riku didn't even glance at him.

"I walked into a door." Axel said blandly. Riku rolled his eyes.

"Suuure you did. Just tell me it wasn't Sora." Axel frowned up at the silver hair, then winced as Demyx began casting a healing spell.

"Of course it wasn't Sora. Aren't you people ever going to let me live that down?" Axel muttered, flushing slightly. Riku in particular wasn't ever going to forget his abortive relationship with a little neko named Reese. He'd been a feisty little brunette, a recent recruit from another mercenary company. Axel had been attracted immediately and the sex had been amazing, but it had only taken Axel a month to realize Reese was really a complete asshole. Their relationship had been a little violent, but it had exploded when Axel had tried to break things off. He really hadn't been expecting it and hadn't defended himself properly, and his lover had been a specialist in unarmed combat. Axel had ended up in the infirmary with plenty of broken ribs and a broken arm. It could have been worse if Riku hadn't heard them and interrupted, too. "Sora's a complete sweety." Although Roxas did remind Axel a little of Reese, actually. Maybe that was why he was feeling attracted to the blond already. Axel sighed to himself. He did tend to like things that were no good for him. Riku frowned thoughtfully, then nodded.

"It's your funeral. So, when should we leave for Ayrlin's Pass?" That was the name of their town, since it sat right on a trade route through the mountains. That helped the town's economy a lot when the Immortals were off on business, although the mercenaries were still an important source of revenue. Axel frowned thoughtfully.

"Yeah, as soon as we buy some horses and get our shit together a little. The prices on that would be better here." Horses were expensive and not great quality at the pass. "Then we'll have to start a recruitment drive and start training. Question is, have we got enough money to tide us over?"

"I think we do. Scratcher says Illuch got payment up front for the last campaign, and, well. We've got a lot fewer people to support at the moment." Axel winced, but Riku had a point. Recruits were only paid a very small amount while they were in training or on probation, for those that had some skills. "We're going to have a tough time and might have to take out a loan, but I think we'll make it as long as next years campaign goes well."

"Hopefully it will." If it didn't, the Immortals would disband for certain. That wasn't the end of the world though. Axel could always find a place somewhere else. Mercenary units salivated at the thought of securing oddballs like him. "It's going to be a long winter." It was barely midsummer now, so things were ending early for them. If everything had gone well they might have tried to take a second contract, but they'd need the time to fill in the ranks.

"At least you'll have Sora to keep you warm." Riku said dryly, and looked over as Roxas growled. Demyx was tending to his injuries now, but that wasn't the reason for his irritation.

"Can't you find a woman that would have you?" Roxas hissed out at Axel, and blinked as Riku and Demyx both burst out laughing. Axel grinned like a naughty schoolboy.

"Nah, they all punch me in the nose if I start saying anything remotely romantic. Some kick me in the balls." Axel's grin widened at Roxas' confused glare. "I have a natural immunity to magic, kid, and I disrupt any offensive spells aimed at me. Including anti-preg charms. Guess how many kids I've got, I dare you."

"He has four children in Ayrlin's Pass." Riku said to Roxas, who was starting to look a little wide-eyed. "A single with a human woman, and triplets with another neko. They're the reason he hasn't broken off to start his own company yet." Four children were a drain on his finances. "How old are they, Axel?" Axel considered it for a moment.

"Shari's brood are twelve and Sebastian is fifteen. He's apprenticed to a baker, so he almost doesn't count anymore. So three more years on the triplets and most of my obligations will be over." Axel was looking forward to it. He hadn't meant to make so many kids, but two drunken moments had gotten him in trouble. He seemed to be distressingly fertile. "Anyway, yeah. The girls in the company know better than to let me touch them, and most of the town has figured it out too. It's a good thing I like the boys too or I'd be a very lonely man."

"Wait. HOW old are you?" Roxas had suddenly caught what he felt was a huge flaw in the story. "If you have a fifteen year old, you have to be at least thirty!" And that was assuming Axel had impregnated the woman at fifteen, which seemed unlikely. Axel coughed as Riku sighed.

"If you can answer that question, you'll win a prize. Axel just says he's old enough." Riku said with an amused tolerance as he looked at the red headed neko, who flushed.

"Well, I am old enough, god. Why do you all want dates? It's embarrassing. Can we talk about something else?" Riku nodded and they started discussing the minutiae of what horses to buy and where. Roxas quickly got bored with that and just watched as Demyx worked on him. The healing wizard had a frown on his face.

"You're in terrible shape." He said absently. "The plain injuries are bad enough but you have two sexual diseases. I'm going to have to give you regular treatments to remove them. No having sex until I say." Roxas snorted at the thought. He wasn't interested in having sex with anyone ever again. Demyx shook his head with a smile. "You can snort now, child, but you'll find someone you want someday." Demyx was sure of it. Roxas glowered at him.

"No. I won't." He'd lost his virginity to rape, and everything after that had been downhill. Sora had been raped the same day, but he'd somehow come to enjoy it, with a certain redhead anyway. Or so they claimed. Roxas wasn't going to be convinced Axel wasn't raping his brother until he had some concrete evidence.

"Well, with that attitude, you won't." Demyx admitted as he pulled out a several potions and began mixing them with wine in a large mug. "But it would be a pity. Axel likes you already." Roxas stiffened and glanced over at the red head. He was still deep in conversation with Riku and hadn't heard a thing.

"I just broke his nose and kicked him in the balls. He'd be a fool to like me." Although Axel did seem like a fool to Roxas. He was entirely too cheerful. Roxas sneered slightly to himself. Maybe Axel and Sora were suited to each other. Then he swallowed as Axel glanced over, briefly meeting those bright green eyes. They were so brilliant and so full of life… Roxas yanked his gaze away, feeling a flush on his cheeks. _I wonder if he wears eyeliner. And what kind of a tool gets tattoos on his cheeks?_ Although he did have to grudgingly admit that they looked good on the neko. Very good, in fact.

"That's not necessarily an impediment with Axel." Demyx muttered as he finished putting together his potion and gave it to Roxas. "Here, drink this." Roxas gulped it down quickly, grimacing at the taste. Healing potions were always foul, and this one was no exception. "Are you hungry, child?" Roxas stomach growled and he nodded. "I'll fetch you something." Demyx got to his feet, leaving the infirmary tent to go see what the mess hall had to offer. Roxas watched him go, staying secure in his next of blankets. Demyx had healed the worst of his injuries, but moving made him itch from the healing skin and insides.

"Oh, Roxas." Roxas looked up at Axel, startled. His nose was badly bruised now but the bones were set and the swelling had been brought down by Demyx's spells. "You're coming with me and Sora into town for a bath. We'll take you back after we're done." Axel wasn't going to get a second room for Roxas at the Broken Arms with the prices the way they were, and he was sure the blond neko wouldn't want to share a room with him and Sora. Axel had a few ideas in mind for the little neko that would probably make Roxas want to bite his cock off.

"No." Roxas said sharply and Axel blinked at him, surprised. "I'll go with you but I'm staying." Axel was speechless for a moment. Did Roxas imagine he was going to stop them from having sex this way? "I want to make sure you're not hurting Sora." While he was at the whorehouse it had been easy to hate Sora for giving in, but after meeting him again Roxas had remembered how sweet Sora was. How giving and understanding he could be. Sora was just nothing like Roxas, so it was stupid to expect him to act the same way.

"Are you saying you want to watch us have sex?" Axel asked, highly amused by the request. Roxas set his jaw mulishly. "I bet Sora's going to be overjoyed. Sure, why not." Axel kind of liked the thought, in a way. And maybe Roxas would see that sex wasn't just something scary, that it could be something beautiful. Although he'd have to work extra hard to get Sora into it. He was sure Sora wasn't used to an audience. The look Roxas was giving him right now, though, was more appropriate to something that had just crawled out of a sewer drain. "What? It was your idea."

"Fucking pervert." Roxas growled and rolled over. Axel sighed to himself. This kid was just so intense and negative. He wondered if he would ever manage to fit in with the Immortals. But then, Seifer could be just as bad when he was in a bad mood, so maybe Roxas would do just fine. Mercenary units were meant for oddballs, after all. Demyx came in with a bowl of stew, then, and Axel was spared trying to make anymore conversation with Roxas. Pulling himself up, Axel winced at his various aches and made his way out of the tent. He needed to speak to more than Riku before the day was over.

By the time the day was over, Axel had hammered out a basic plan with Riku and the surviving squad leaders. They would be staying in Immervale for the rest of the week, getting horses and the supplies they would need to head back to Ayrlin's Pass and seeing if any other Immortals came filtering in. Then they would leave for the Pass, and do a bit of recruiting along the way once they hit their home turf. Mercenary units weren't allowed to recruit outside of certain areas, but the Immortals could recruit anywhere within Janaheim as well as parts of Immervale and Kaspan. And they would see if there were any cheap, likely slaves in the market. That wasn't likely though. It took more than a strong body to make it in the Immortals. For a slave, though, getting bought by a company wasn't a bad deal. Usually they were freed after a set amount of time which could be three to five years. The same was true of pretty much every army in the world. Knowing they would be getting freedom, citizenship and good wages tended to motivate such warriors. Roxas had spent the day in the infirmary, eating as much as he could hold and Sora had been with the wizard apprentices, picking up a few tricks. He was already showing talent, and Axel was glad. It seemed likely that Sora would be able to find a place with the company wizards, if push came to shove.

"Ready kittens?" Axel asked and Sora nodded. Roxas just glowered as Axel picked up the brunette and put him onto the horse, then tried to do the same to him. Axel jerked away as Roxas nearly bit him. "What, do you want to jump up yourself?"

"Yes." Roxas snarled, and scrambled up into the saddle, making the horse snort and stamp. Axel frowned and took the reigns. It was asking too much for the horse to carry triple, so he was going to be walking and leading the gelding. Sora smiled at Roxas as he put his arms around his brother's waist. Then Sora frowned at the glare Roxas was giving Axel as they walked.

"Roxas, stop, please." Roxas muttered something uncomplimentary about Axel, and Axel flipped his ears, amused as Sora winced. "Roxas!"

"He wants to watch us sleep together to make sure I'm not hurting you." Axel said with a grin and Sora froze, his ears flicking straight up in shock.

"What?!? No!" Sora's rejection was immediate, and Roxas flushed. "Roxas, that's gross! How could you want that?"

"I want to make sure he's not hurting you, and the only way I'll know is if I see you together." Roxas said stubbornly as Sora glared at him.

"He's not hurting me! Can't you get that through your thick skull?" Sora said, exasperated. "And even if he were hurting me, it's my life! I don't need you trying to run it for me!" Axel let the wrangling wash over him, although it was odd. Something about it was very familiar. It was like he'd heard this all before, or something similar, and a memory vaguely came to him of a boy in white and black clothing facing another boy in blue and arguing about something. But the memory was too fragmentary to focus on, and faded almost as soon as it came. Axel shrugged to himself. "Axel, help me out here!" Sora was getting very frustrated with Roxas, and Axel grinned.

"Hey, I don't care as long as he doesn't interrupt." Axel suddenly paused as a horrible thought occurred to him. "He wouldn't interrupt, would he?"

"I'd kick your ass if you did anything to hurt Sora." Roxas snapped, and Axel suddenly had an awful image of Sora having a brief moment of pain when he went inside and Roxas breaking his nose again. Or kicking him in the balls in the middle of sex. Now that was a horrible idea.

"Uh, have you ever experienced good sex? Because I'm not sure I want you judging my performance that way." Axel started walking again, getting more nervous as he thought about it. "Actually, maybe you could just sit outside and listen." Although then Roxas would be likely to break down the door. "You know, I think this is a terrible idea. I'll take you back to camp after you get your bath."

"No!" Roxas snarled as Sora looked relieved. "I'm not going back and you can't make me." Axel glanced back at Roxas, less than amused now.

"Look, kitten, you caught me by surprise before. But I'm a trained fighter and you're not. I'm pretty sure I can tie you up and haul you back to camp if I need to. Don't test me on this." The look Roxas gave him was so malignant that it made even Axel a touch uncomfortable.

"I hate you." Roxas felt almost shaken by the depth of his hatred for the red headed neko. He'd never felt such antipathy towards anyone, not even his 'customers' or the madam and pimps that had used him. Roxas' hands curled into fists as he realized he wanted to _kill_ Axel. He wanted to wrap his hands around the other nekos' throat and feel Axel gagging and writhing underneath him as he died. The vision was so strong that it left Roxas feeling breathless and with a cold sweat on his forehead.

"Uh, okay." Axel was unnerved and struggling not to show it. He smiled, his usual, amused smile but his heart wasn't in it. "That's fine, but you can hate me from back at the camp." Axel was certain now that he should stay as far away from the little blond as possible. And he was sure he wouldn't. He'd never been good at staying away from things that were bad for him. They were all silent for a while until Sora finally broke it.

"Axel? You were going to get me a new necklace?" He was still wearing his gold one, but the one Roxas was wearing was bronze. Axel nodded.

"I'll get you both silver ones, I think. And plenty of clothes and shoes for Roxas. We still have nine silvers left from that pendant, it should cover everything. A silver each for the slave chains and seven left for clothes." Roxas frowned at then mention of slave chains, and reached up to touch the heavy bronze links on his throat. He hated the feel of it, but doubted it would be any better in silver. "We're doing the shopping tomorrow. Once we've got that down, the two of you are going to start training with the Immortals to see what you're good at. I have an idea that Roxas is going to make a good fighter, but I'm not sure about you Sora. Maybe you'll go with the wizards or healers." Either one would be fine. Sora beamed.

"I hope so! I love magic." Sora seemed very enthusiastic, and Axel grinned.

"That's good, it probably means you have talent." People without much talent found the exercises draining. If Sora liked them, he might have a lot of talent. "Anyway, if you both work out you'll get the standard contract and be free in three years." Sora beamed at the thought and even Roxas looked pleased, before he lapsed back into sullen suspicion. Axel sighed to himself, wondering if the blond neko would ever believe anything he said.

Axel paid another silver for the bath, ruefully watching his supply of coins vanishing. But Roxas desperately needed it, and the bath was pleasant for all of them. Soon enough he was taking Roxas back to the camp.

Or trying to, anyway. Axel swore and dodged as Roxas swung on him. The damn kitten was fast and strong for someone his size. And very, very agile. Axel was getting seriously frustrated as he tried to pin the little neko in a corner and kept coming out with nothing.

"Dammit Roxas!" Axel paused, breathing hard as he watched Roxas narrowly. Sora was watching them both, clearly dismayed, but he couldn't spare an instant of attention for him. If he did Roxas would try to hit him again. Roxas seemed aware of his every lapse and he was really good at street fighting. "Okay, look. You can stay IF you swear to god that you won't touch me unless Sora says to. Alright?" Sora squeaked in dismay and Roxas scowled, clearly not liking the terms. But he finally nodded.

"Alright. And Sora, shut up. I'm not leaving you with him." Roxas didn't know why he hated Axel so much, but he trusted his instincts. He was sure the redhead was dangerous. As they went back to the inn, Axel contemplated just sleeping with Sora, no sex. But that would mean letting Roxas win, and it wouldn't settle anything. He was unhappily certain that they'd be having the same discussion the next day.

Sora was very nervous as Axel started gently disrobing him. Axel just tried to ignore Roxas, who was sitting in the desk chair, watching him with hostility. It wasn't easy and it wasn't sexy. But soon, Sora's squeaks and moans made him forget the blond neko. Almost. Axel gently lay Sora on the bed and knelt down between his thighs, leaning down and gently running his tongue along Sora's erection, then gently taking the brunette in his mouth. Sora moaned, his hands tangling in Axel's red spikes as he tried to thrust up into the moist warmth around him.

"Axel…" Roxas frowned as he stared at Sora's face. Sora was flushed and panting but the look in his eyes was so… so blissful. Roxas shifted uncomfortably, feeling his pants getting tighter. It had been so long since he'd been really aroused that he could hardly remember the last time it had happened. Axel pulled away just before Sora could release, making the little neko moan in disappointment. Then Sora gasped as Axel touched him with well-lubed fingers, gently opening him. "Oh!" It felt better this time, with a proper supply of lube, and Sora relaxed as soon as the stinging faded. "Axel please… give me more." Sora whimpered out, completely forgetting Roxas' presence. Axel looked into his face with a grin.

"Your wish is my command." Axel said with a small, husky laugh, lubing up his erection quickly before going carefully into Sora. The boy was still so much smaller, so tight and wonderful around him. Sora whimpered a bit in pain at the feeling of Axel's huge cock, so much bigger than fingers, stretching him out. But before Roxas could do more than tense, Sora moaned in pleasure and wrapped his legs around Axel, firmly urging him on. Axel began to thrust into Sora, nuzzling his throat and licking away a few tears on the smaller neko's face. Sora always seem to cry just a little as he went inside, but it didn't seem to mean anything, thankfully. "God, Sora, you're so damn good." Axel moaned as Sora tightened around him, that slick wet heat driving any coherent thought out of his mind. "Oh yeeesss…" Axel stroked Sora's throbbing erection, thrusting hard against his special spot. He couldn't have began to guess how long they moved together, how long they kept up the wonderful, mind-blowing feeling of _fucking._ But the end came suddenly as Sora screamed, arching and tensing as he released between the two of them. The sudden tightening around him sent Axel over the edge, and he released at the same time, filling up Sora with his seed. Gasping, the two neko lay together completely spent, completely oblivious to the watcher.

"Fuck." Roxas muttered to himself, swallowing hard. His pants were way, way too tight now and he had to admit that Axel hadn't hurt Sora. But that made him want to kill the other neko even more. Roxas had no idea why and that was almost frightening, but the burning rage hadn't subsided in the least. And it become worse when Axel looked up from the bed, grinning.

"You liked what you saw?" Axel said teasingly as Sora squeaked in dismay. He'd managed to forget his brother was in the room. "Care to join us?" Roxas snarled.

"I'll kill you first." And he stalked out of the room, trying to get his arousal under control. Axel's smile faded at the deadly promise in Roxas' voice.

"What did I do to him?" Axel asked Sora, but he could only shrug. He had no idea why his brother was acting this way either.

It was disturbing.


	5. Dominance and Rough Sex

"I can't believe it."

"Nor can I." Axel and Riku were both looking over the Immortals camp, bemused.

In the last week, matters had been changing rapidly. More Immortals than they had expected had come filtering back, although Illuch himself was still missing. They were formally going to change the name to Axel's Immortals soon. And the Immortals who had left under Riku had sheepishly come back. No one was blaming them, though. With Axel and Illuch both presumed dead, it had been easy for them to lose hope.

Axel reflected on his first lieutenant for a moment. Riku wasn't bad at all at what he did, although he was lacking the experience of Axel and Illuch. But he would never be a commander, and it was for a very different reason. Riku was brilliant. Brilliant with weapons and tactics, he seemed touched by Lady Luck in every way. His skill at games of chance was phenomenal. But his brilliance had a dark side, and that was a lack of focus. Without someone to keep his face firmly pointed in the right direction, he tended to lose interest and become unfocused. What was a tolerable trait in a lieutenant was very bad in a commander, since who could pointedly tell the commander that he was off track? In his favor, Riku was very well aware of his flaw and had been looking forward to formally taking command like a man looking forward to his execution. He might have finally disbanded the Immortals if it became clear noone else was stepping up.

But fortunately, it hadn't come to that and things were looking relatively good considering how badly it had all gone. Axel silently blessed Illuch for getting full payment up front. Although that had only been possible because the King they had been working for had blotted his copybook with the mercenary guild so thoroughly that no one would work for him without it. In Axel's opinion, that had been the first sign they shouldn't have taken the job.

Better things had happened than just the Immortals coming in though. What was left of Mondragon's Raiders had formally asked them for a merger. That was less than fifty men, but it would bring them up to near full strength and better yet, add the Mondragon's coffers to their own. Leon was the highest officer left to them and it looked like he would become a squad leader in the reformed company. He was already causing problems with Seifer, and Axel had been told they had a history. The matching scars no doubt had a story behind them, and Riku had already spoken to both of them about keeping their animosity under control. Axel wondered how much good it was going to do, but he couldn't refuse the merger. The Raiders had been good.

So at the moment, with the new recruits, they were almost at full strength. The recruits included eleven carefully picked slaves, most of whom were neko from Swartheld. Five of them were warriors, and while they had a few bad habits to iron out they all seemed to have working brains. The other six were picking things up rapidly, so hopefully they would survive.

Axel's gaze slid over to Roxas. The little blond neko had proven to be as good as he'd thought. He was already training with Seifer and pressing hard against the blond haired man's defenses. The little neko seemed to combine an incredibly ferocity with an amazing awareness of what was happening around him. Not to mention a complete disregard for his own safely. Now that he was learning how to really fight and putting on some muscle, he was rapidly getting dangerous.

"Axel, he can't stand you." Riku said softly, and Axel winced at how transparent he was, then laughed.

"I know, but it's like there's something magnetic about him. It's calling to me, I can't look away. Does that seem strange?" Riku smiled sadly at his response and shook his head.

"For some reason, no. It sounds like you. Axel." Riku hesitated then, running a hand through his silvery hair. "I know he's technically your slave, but, would you object if I dated Sora?" Axel looked at Riku, surprised, then thought about it for a long moment. If Riku was asking that then he was serious, and Sora just wasn't Axel's type for the long haul. He liked an edge of danger in his lovers.

"No, I wouldn't object." He quickly decided. "Hm. I'll talk with him tonight." Sora might take it as a rejection, but he might not too. Axel had noticed him glancing at Riku a few times and thought the attraction was mutual. Either way, if he and Riku were going to date then Sora would probably have to move out of Axel's tent. That would be easy though, Roxas had his own tent and could easily fit in a roommate. The blond neko would probably be extremely happy to get Sora away from Axel too. Axel grinned at the thought. He had a different conquest in mind, but how to make the approach? That was the question.

"Who, Sora or Roxas?" Riku said absently as he observed one of the slaves practicing. She was a short, stocky neko with a grip like a longshoreman.

"Uh… both, probably. I hope Roxas doesn't kick my ass." Axel was a little worried. He was very good at unarmed combat but Roxas was incredibly vicious and just didn't give up. Riku grinned.

"If he does, Dem will patch you up and Seifer will make fun of you." Axel stuck out his tongue at the silver hair, who thumped him in the shoulder with a laugh. "Well, later. There's a dice game with my name on it." Riku started off cheerfully, and Axel watched him go wistfully. He'd tried dicing but he always seemed to lose, and he couldn't afford it with his kids and plans. Axel shrugged, then went to the mage's work tent. He wanted to start with Sora and that was where to find him these days.

When he opened the tent he heard an excited squeal and a laugh. Smiling, he saw that Sora was holding a ball of faerie fire and beaming. That was a very simple spell but the effortless way he was holding it hinted at true talent. The girl teaching him was grinning.

"Well done Sora!" Sora grinned widely at her, and Axel felt a flutter in his stomach. That expression was such a ray of sunshine. For a moment, he wished he could keep Sora. But that wouldn't be fair to either of them. He was sure he didn't love the brunette.

"Hey, Sora, can we talk for a moment?" Axel laid a hand on the little neko's shoulder, and Sora looked up at him curiously before dispelling the faerie fire.

"Sure. What is it, Axel?" Axel gently guided him away, giving them the pretense of privacy although he was sure all the wizards could hear. Magic had many advantages.

"Well, see, I don't want you to take this the wrong way." Axel started as Sora looked a bit worried. "But Riku has asked if he could date you. If you're interested in that, it would probably be best if you went to stay with Roxas for a while. I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Sora blinked, taken aback. Of all the things he'd thought Axel might say, that had been last on the list. But…

"I, I would really like that." Sora admitted with a blush and Axel smiled. The attraction was mutual then. "But are you okay with that Axel?" Sora looked up at him anxiously and Axel's smile warmed. Sora was worried about his feelings? That was so sweet.

"I'll be fine, Sora." Axel ruffled the little neko's hair, making him giggle. "You're like a little brother to me. Tell me if Riku makes you unhappy and I'll kick him in the balls for you."

"No, Roxas can do that." Sora said with a grin. "And he'd like it!" Axel laughed. He was sure Roxas would if Sora asked him to.

"Speaking of Roxas, I need to go tell him the good news and ask him on a date." Sora looked alarmed at the last part.

"Uh, Axel, he really doesn't like you." Sora said cautiously, and Axel grinned.

"Yes, I know, I'm perverse. Don't worry, I'll be fine." And if he wasn't fine that was okay. It wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten beaten up, and Axel was just too attracted to Roxas to ignore it. Something about the crazy blond was drawing him in like a fish on a hook. The question was, did Roxas feel it too? If the answer was no, this was going to be a painfully short romance. Emphasis on pain. But Axel needed to find out.

Starting briskly out of the tent, Axel went looking for Roxas. Lucky for him, he found him getting a glass of small beer from one of the barrels. The water from town wasn't exactly safe.

"So, Roxas!" Axel leaned against the barrel as the blond shot him a look of flat dislike, and smiled at him. "Guess what? Sora's going to come live with you." Roxas' mouth dropped open for a moment, then he recovered and glared.

"Tired of him already?" Roxas said with a sneer, and Axel lifted his eyebrows, pretending to be hurt.

"No, he's broken my heart to pieces. He wants to date Riku and Riku wants to date him, so how could I stand in the poor lovebirds way?" Roxas gave him an 'I'm not buying it' look and Axel grinned. "Okay, my heart isn't broken. But the rest is the truth, I swear to the gods."

"As if the gods would have anything to do with you." Roxas muttered, which made Axel give him a quizzical look. It was a rather odd comment. "Was there anything else you wanted, or are you just bothering me?"

"Actually, I'm hoping to make you bothered." Axel murmured, watching Roxas carefully. Was that a flash of desire under the anger? "I was hoping you might allow me to buy you supper, take you on a walk in the park, that sort of thing. You know, the stuff you do before fucking someone sense-awk!" Axel thought he was he was ready but Roxas' speed still took him by surprise as he ended up with his back flat against the beer barrel and… Roxas was kissing him?

_Oh yes. _Roxas tasted like the best candy he'd ever tried, sweet and delicious and forbidden. Axel tried to put his arms around the little neko but Roxas slapped him away, drawing back and licking his lips. The blond's blue eyes looked glazed with desire and fury as he gripped Axel's collar, ignoring his leather armor and dragging him off.

"Uh, Roxas, it's generally customary for me to buy you supper." The speed this was progressing with was rather alarming. Axel could have broken out of Roxas grip if he'd wanted to, but he was fascinated. Where was Roxas taking him?

"Shut up." Roxas hissed and pulled him into a tent, gripping his shoulders and pulling him into another rough kiss. Roxas started working on removing his armor, hissing at the clasps as Axel's head whirled a little. They were going to screw? Right here, right now? Just the thought aroused him, and he quickly helped Roxas with the armor then worked at peeling off the blond's clothing. The body revealed was still thinner than Sora's but still incredibly desirable. Axel started to push Roxas down onto the bed and found Roxas pouncing on him, shoving him onto the floor. Axel blinked, then laughed breathlessly. Roxas thought he was going to dominate him?

"You think you're going to top me?" Axel hadn't been topped in years. He preferred to be in control, although over his long life he'd done it the other way too. Roxas growled and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I'll fight you for it." Axel swallowed hard. That was possibly the sexiest thing he'd ever heard, and it sent a jolt of fire to his groin. He surged up against Roxas, quickly turning the tables on the blond, but only for a moment. They wrestled hard, and Axel picked up several painful bruises before he finally had Roxas pinned underneath him. They were both panting and Axel grinned as he saw how aroused Roxas was. He felt painfully hard himself.

"Okay." Axel nuzzled Roxas throat for a moment before letting go of one of his wrists to find his belt pouch, and the small bottle of lube he'd decided to bring along. It had so many uses. But just as his fingers closed on the belt pouch his world turned upside down. Roxas broke his grip and punched him in the stomach, hard. Axel gasped and hunched over for just a second and that was all Roxas needed. A few brief, confused and painful moments later Axel found himself in an entirely different situation. Roxas had both his arms twisted behind his back, his wrists held at the centre of his spine with both hands, forcing the redheaded neko into a kneeling position. "Ow, fuck!" Axel said breathlessly as he tried to break Roxas grip and winced as the blond put pressure on him. Axel was tempted to keep trying, but it felt like Roxas could break his wrists with that grip and he was afraid the blond would. "You asshole, I was just going for the lube."

"All's fair in love and war." Roxas growled in his ear, and Axel's eyes widened as he felt the smaller neko's erection brushing his back. Was he going to…?

"Roxas, stretching and lube is a very good thing-augh!" Roxas completely ignored the slightly panicked tone in Axel's voice, pressing into the redhead. Axel groaned at the painful, dry entrance. It hurt like hell but there was something under the pain, something good. And the pain itself was oddly good. Axel had known for a very long time that he had a masochistic streak, although he'd seldom had sex this violent. And it was violent. Roxas wasn't taking his time or caring about what Axel felt, and he felt blood tricking down his thighs. But the pleasure was building, throbbing along with the pain and making him moan in a twisted ecstasy.

"Let go." Axel managed to say. He wanted to touch his own hardness, wanted to do something to ease the growing, coiling pleasure in his cock and stomach. It felt so good now, so painful and so intense that it made him want to scream.

"No." Roxas snarled, his breathing ragged and uneven as he speeded his thrusts into the older neko. He'd never been on the giving end of this treatment before, and he was suddenly discovering how much of a thrill it was, even with someone he hated. Or perhaps especially with someone he hated. He was letting out all his hatred and fury into the redhead and finding there was something under those emotions, something so intense it frightened him. Something that wasn't hatred or anger at all, something completely different and searing. Roxas almost sobbed and shook his head. He couldn't face that now and concentrated on the physical, the feeling of the older neko under him, the incredibly tight heat that beckoned him to thrust into it again and again.

Axel finally released with a yowl just before Roxas let go, filling him and making him wince as the hot liquid stung his wounds. For a moment they lay together, exhausted, until Axel squirmed again.

"Okay, seriously, let go." Roxas finally relaxed the grip on Axel's wrists, letting him pull away and rub them. Axel frowned… his wrists were big and Roxas' hands were small. He was going to have some truly spectacular bruises soon. The little neko sighed and slowly pulled away from him, making Axel wince again in pain. "Ow." Axel gingerly lay down on his side, feeling too tired and sore to move. "After that, I think you owe me supper. My ass is killing me."

"Pussy." Roxas snorted, but it came out as just banter, not the cutting tone he would have used before. "I've taken worse than that every night."

"Does that mean you'll be my bitch next time?" Axel asked, grinning as Roxas' eyes flashed in anger again. He was so cute when he was angry. Roxas scowled at him, flipping his ears.

"You'll have to fight me for it." He growled, and Axel snorted.

"I would have had you if you hadn't pulled that dirty trick while I was going for the lube. Not a mistake I'll make next time." He'd either figure out some way to get it out safely or not use it at all. Roxas was just not trustworthy. "…Oh, shit." Axel groaned and slowly got up, swaying slightly as he started to pull on his clothes. "I have a meeting with the Raiders. Fuck." He hadn't expected things to go this way and it was still midday. He was going to be an odd sight, covered in bruises and limping, but it couldn't be helped. "Later Roxas."

"Later." Roxas watched Axel leave the tent and couldn't help but smirk. It had felt so good to dominate the redhead. But the smirk faded as he thought about the fact that Axel didn't seem to mind, really… and that strange emotion that had seemed to underlay the anger and hate. Both facts were troubling. Roxas finally shook his head, standing and getting on his own clothes. He had more training to do.

But he would have to think about this quite a bit.


	6. Axel can Sing!

"Riku, I was wondering?" Sora asked tentatively as his horse ambled slowly along the road. They were on the way to Ayrlin's Pass and since he was definitely joining the healers and wizards, the horse he'd been given to ride was one of the worst available. It didn't want to move past a fast walk, but that was just fine by Sora. He liked a horse that wanted to take things slow.

"What are you wondering?" Riku had to rein in his horse to keep it beside Sora's. The contrast between the two mounts couldn't have been greater if they'd been trying. Sora was on an ancient grey and Riku was on a young, feisty black stallion. "Lady Luck! I'm gelding this thing as soon as we reach the pass." Riku swore and controlled the horse as he tried to take a bite out of Sora's gelding. Sora giggled.

"Too bad he doesn't understand that he's going to lose his balls… Riku, why is the company so, um…" Sora struggled to find a polite way to phrase it. "Gay?" Riku blinked at his question, and laughed. It was nothing but the truth. Illuch's… now Axel's… Immortals were probably at least a quarter gay and lesbian, with a good solid chunk bisexual. And quite a few were complete freaks in one way or another. Riku privately thought Axel fell into that last category. For most mercenary companies, this situation was highly unusual. Mercenary outfits gladly took in all kinds of misfits, but that didn't mean they were necessary friendly to homosexuals.

"That was Illuch's work. He was a General, you know, before it came out that he was completely gay." Riku explained. "When it did he was given notice of his impending retirement, and not in a good way, so he took off with his savings to begin the Immortals. As a mercenary commander he didn't have to hide his preferences. Most of the clients don't care and those that do, we don't want to deal with. The other companies might sneer at us as a bunch of fags but they know we're good. For mercs, it's mostly okay to be gay as long as you can kick ass." Mercenaries valued toughness above all else. Sora nodded, a bit wide-eyed.

"Riku, is it odd that I think I love you?" Sora said shyly. He'd only met the silver haired human a bit more than a week ago, but the way they'd come together just felt so right. It was as if Riku was a puzzle piece that fit perfectly into his life. Riku smiled, reaching over to touch his hand for a moment.

"Not at all. I feel the same. I think Lady Luck is being kind." Riku dug out his dice from his pouch, and rolled them in his hands. "See? Double sixes!" Sora laughed, shaking his head with a smile.

"You shouldn't count on Lady Luck, Riku." It was endearing, though, how Riku always seemed to be lucky when it counted. Although his luck could have spectacular failures. Riku shrugged with another smile. They both blinked as a song drifted to them. The voice was familiar… Axel really had a spectacular singing voice when he wanted to sing.

_That's the wrong way to tickle Mary_

_That's the wrong way to kiss_

_Don't you know that over here lad_

_They like it best like this_

_Hooray pour Les Francois_

_Farewell Angleterre_

_We didn't know how to tickle Mary_

_But we learnt how over there._

"What's that mean?" Sora wondered, and Riku grinned.

"It's referring to French kissing. I'm not sure why it's called that." For a moment, Riku vaguely recalled another place and time far, far away. But it faded as soon as it came. "Axel has all kind of weird songs like that."

"Oh, I see." Sora had heard a few rumors about Axel so far. They were mostly wild stories, ranging from suspicions that he was really a dragon to being cursed by the gods for some terrible deed to wander the earth forever. Because according to all the rumors, Axel just kept turning up. No one knew exactly how old he was but the answer seemed to be very. "Riku, I'm worried about Axel and Roxas."

"I think we're all worried about that." Riku sighed, shaking his head. "It's truly bizarre that someone so capable can get into the worst relationships. But there's nothing we can do about it now." Perhaps in the future they would have to act, but not yet. "Who knows? Maybe it will work out."

"Um." Sora privately doubted that. The way they were acting towards each other made him profoundly uneasy. There seemed to be something very wrong about it.

But they could only wait and see.

* * *

Axel hummed to himself as he stood leaning against a tree. It was nightfall, but he didn't feel like going back to his tent just yet. The air was ruffling his hair, tickling his ears, and the sky was full of stars. Axel tilted his head back, staring at them as his tail lashed slowly from side to side. He was oblivious to the boy watching him from the camp.

Roxas frowned as he watched Axel, feeling irritated yet a bit intrigued. Axel usually came directly to his tent when the camp chores were done to begin their dominance game… but he hadn't tonight. He'd said nothing to Roxas at all and simply vanished. And now he was just standing there, looking at the stars. It was a little insulting, actually. Roxas scowled and finally stalked over, intending to give Axel a piece of his mind. But he slowed as he neared the redhead, staring as he caught the way Axel looked in the moonlight.

Roxas stopped entirely, just looking at Axel for a moment. The other neko was shadowed and almost feral looking in the dark. The light of the moon and stars was caught in his green eyes, which seemed to glow. His tail, Roxas noticed, was far slenderer than most neko. He and Sora both had typical, bushy tails but Axel's was like an oriental cat, as sleek and flexible as a whip. It was odd that he'd never really noticed that before… but he'd generally been paying attention to other things when Axel had his pants off. Then Axel quietly started to sing.

_Oh, I got plenty o' nothin'_

_And nothin's plenty for me_

_I got the sun, got the moon_

_Got the deep blue sea_

_De folks wid plenty o' plenty_

_Got to pray all de day_

_Seems wid plenty you sure got to worry_

_How to keep the devvel away_

_Away…!_

_I ain't frettin 'bout hell_

_'Till de time arrive_

_Never worry long as I'm well_

_Never one to strive_

_To be good, to be bad_

_What the hell_

_I is glad I's alive!_

_Oh, I got plenty o' nothin'_

_And nothin's plenty for me_

_I got my gal, got my song_

_Got Hevven the whole day long_

_No use complaining_

_Got my gal, got my Lawd_

_Got my song…!_

"You don't have a gal." Roxas pointed out gruffly as Axel stopped singing, trying to calm the feeling in his own heart. It was a strange excitement, something he didn't understand and didn't want to feel. Axel blinked, glancing over in surprise and smiling.

"Well, the song isn't perfect then. What is, really?" Axel shifted slightly, scratching his back on the tree behind him. "The rest of it doesn't really fit me right now either. Too many kids, too many obligations. But I'd like to live that way again someday." Roxas could hear the faint yearning in his voice, the desire for a simpler way of life. Then Axel turned his head to look at him, his green eyes shining in the dark. "Would you like that?" Roxas swallowed as he saw the gentle warmth in Axel's eyes. It wasn't desire but something infinitely more upsetting.

"Don't look at me like that." Roxas said harshly as the hate suddenly surged inside him. He didn't want Axel to look at him like that, like he really meant something to the older neko. Axel blinked slowly at him.

"Roxas, you can ask for a lot of things from me but you can't govern how I feel." Axel tilted his head to one side, a faint smile playing across his lips. "Why does it bother you that I like you?" Roxas took a deep, shuddering breath as he tried to think of an answer to Axel's question. But he couldn't. There was no reason why the redhead liking him made that hatred and rage surge up. It just did.

"I don't know." Roxas suddenly stepped close to Axel, making the redhead flinch away for a moment. But instead of trying to hit him or anything violent, Roxas caught Axel's slender tail in one hand. It twitched in his grip, but he slowly smoothed it, running his fingers through the short fur.

"Mmm." Axel's eyes were half-closed as he enjoyed the feeling of Roxas touching his tail. It was always relaxing, getting a tail rub, and sometimes sensual too. But his back was towards the tree so Roxas couldn't reach the really sensual part, where the tail joined his spine. "Roxas." The blond stiffened as Axel slid his arms around him, then gave him a gentle, lingering kiss. "Let me love you." Those simple words made all the hate, anger and that other strange feeling boil to the surface and sent Roxas into a complete panic.

"NO!" Axel jerked away violently as Roxas stomped on his foot, cursing in pain as the smaller neko ran away.

"What did I do to you?" Axel called after him plaintively, then winced and rubbed his foot. He didn't think anything was broken, but it was going to be very sore in the morning. "Ugh." He abruptly decided to see if Raven could put him up tonight. It would start some strange rumors, but he didn't want to sleep with Roxas tonight.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day.

* * *

"Let me guess. You kicked a door?" Demyx said rhetorically, and Axel grinned.

"How'd you know?" Demyx just shook his head as he cast a spell to bring down the swelling. It was well known among those close to Axel that doors were always to blame when he got into an intimate fight.

"It's not broken but it's badly bruised. Try to keep your weight off it as much as possible and be careful riding." Axel nodded, sighing slightly as Demyx's spell began to take effect. He'd had a lot of trouble getting his boots on in the morning and hopefully this would help.

But they were getting very close to Ayrlin's Pass in any case. They would be starting the trek up the mountainside today. The town was situated quite high up, on the bank of a glacier lake. There was no real farmland, but there didn't need to be with the traffic through the pass. And the land was rich in wildlife. Quite a few people in the town made their living as trappers.

Axel walked out of the medic's tent, getting to work helping pack things away. Everyone worked together when it came to setting up and tearing down camp, and they had it down to an efficient science. Soon his gear was ready to go, and Axel swung up onto his horse, putting him into motion.

"Axel?" Axel glanced over at Roxas' voice, his green eyes cool. But he couldn't help but thaw a little as he saw how miserable Roxas looked. He was riding a chestnut mare with a calm disposition, but she was snorting and feeling restive, picking up the unease of her rider. "I'm really sorry. I don't know why I did that." And that was the absolute truth. Roxas had no idea why he was acting this way and that was disturbing.

"Can't stand to hear the love word?" Axel said with a half-smile, and Roxas bit his lip. That word did send those feelings bubbling up again… but… there was more to it than that. He was sure of it.

"Not exactly. It's something about you." Roxas looked at his horses mane, concentrating on getting her under control for a moment. "You make me feel like I… I want to kill you, sometimes. And then I feel something else. I don't know why, but you're the only one who makes me feel like this." No one else had ever inspired that mixture of hate and rage in him. Not even Seifer, and he'd managed to be really irritating as they sparred. It didn't make much sense, really. Axel had slept with Sora but so had Riku, and Roxas didn't feel any animosity at all towards the human. It was all directed at Axel. The redhead hesitated a moment, then sighed.

"It's okay Roxas. We'll just have to see how it goes. Try not to hurt me so much though, please? It gets really embarrassing when I have to tell everyone I ran into a door again." Axel was just glad he'd convinced Roxas to stop trying things when he went for the lube. After the first time he'd won their little contest and taken Roxas without any, the blond neko had seen his point. It was really hard to train when you were sore that way. Roxas was silent for a moment.

"Axel, do you like getting hurt?" He'd noticed that Axel reacted strangely sometimes to pain, especially during sex. And the redhead was giving him more chances than he really should. Roxas was glumly sure that anyone else would have kicked him to the curb already. Axel grinned, then shrugged.

"Guilty as charged. I'm one of the freaks around here, but hey, it's how I roll. That was why Sora just wasn't the one for me." Axel couldn't picture Sora ever being anything but sweet and cuddly. Which clearly suited Riku down to the ground, but it just wasn't his thing. "My turn to ask a question. How do you feel about me?" Roxas' breath caught in his throat as he tried to examine that question. How did he feel about Axel?

"You… you make me so angry, so full of hate just looking at you sometimes." Roxas admitted, making Axel blink. "But when we make love there's something else there. Something I don't understand." Roxas swallowed thickly as he remembered that feeling. It had been linked to the pleasure and it had been so intense, so good, that despite how much it frightened him he wanted to feel it again. "I'm sorry Axel, I don't know why you do this to me." That was frightening too. His reactions to Axel just made no sense. Axel scratched his head for a moment, then shrugged.

"Got me. I really suck at navel gazing, Roxas, and I don't feel anything like that towards you. So let's just go with it, hey?" Axel grinned at him. "My feelings all start with L, heh." Roxas blushed as he caught Axel's meaning, and shook his head.

"You hardly know me." And what Axel did know about him wasn't that pleasant. Axel shrugged with a laugh.

"I go with my feelings and they rarely steer me wrong. But hey, it's fine. Let's see if we can shoot a partridge or something before we make camp." Axel pulled out his sling and Roxas followed suit with a smile. Trying to catch game as the mercenaries made their way home was a fun way to spend the time. The slingers and archers in the column rarely caught much, but it was always worth a try.

Roxas was looking forward to seeing Ayrin's Pass. From what he had heard, it would be interesting.


	7. Home Sweet Home

_Aquamarine eyes gazed at him, twinkling with malicious amusement. White fingers flicking through a deck of cards, then dancing over a pair of golden dice and flicking them through the air. They came up snake eyes._

"_A bad cast from you?" His own voice, shaded with disdain. She laughed at him, and the voice was eerily similar to someone Roxas had heard recently. But who? He examined her more carefully._

_She was a tall, statuesque and beautiful woman. Illegian, from her appearance, beautiful silvery white hair fell down her back in a frothy wave. She was lounging on a divan, rich fabrics shot with gold dripping onto the floor. The table in front of her had been inlaid with lovely woods in an intricate pattern of birds and grains. She shifted to pick up her dice, and he looked away from the tantalizing glimpse of female flesh as her gown parted with the movement. Her gown was a beautiful thing, a light yellow sundress that was slit to reveal a great deal when she moved._

_The room was just as beautiful as her, and Roxas watched, amazed, as his gaze traveled over furnishings the like of which he'd never dreamed of. Yet a large part of him was completely indifferent to the rich carpets, the luxurious woods and the great glass doors that opened to an immense garden full of orange trees and sculpted bushes. The paintings on the walls were the kind of artwork that was seen once a generation, but it was as if he'd seen them all before, too many times to count._

"_Lady Luck isn't always kind." He snorted, glancing back at the woman. She leaned back, smiling and rolling the dice between her hands. "Your brother is worried about you. It's like you're trying to take… his place." He stiffened at that and favored her with a glare._

"_Don't be absurd. We're all better off with him gone." Roxas heard himself say curtly, and she shrugged, tossing the dice again. Double sixes._

"_Are we really? And I'm not just saying that because he was my friend. Things did get better at first, but they're not better now, are they? I think the problem was just a touch more complicated than we thought." She smirked and spread her hands. Roxas stared at the beautiful web of power that glowed between them, blue and silver and gold, forming fractal patterns of pure chaos. No matter how closely he looked, there was always more detail to be seen. It was beautiful and more complicated than any one mind could comprehend… except for hers. "Well, don't let me keep you waiting. The boss wants to speak to you."  
_

"_About what?" Roxas could hear the fear in his own voice, and her smirk softened into a more sympathetic smile._

"_I think we can both guess. But don't worry, your brother and I will have your back. Just like we tried to do for him." She sighed, leaning back. "Hopefully we might even make a difference this time."_

"_Good luck with that." Roxas briskly left the room as chaotic fractals dissipated into the air behind him._

_He had no faith in her or his brother. There were some things that not even Lady Luck could help with. And in too many ways, he would be getting precisely what he deserved._

* * *

"Hey, Roxas, wake up. Your horse doesn't like you much." Roxas blinked as Axel's hand on his elbow suddenly roused him from his reverie.

"Axel, I was dreaming." But it had been an odd waking dream. And who had that woman been? Now that he was awake, Roxas realized that she resembled Riku. She had even sounded a little like him. Were they related? But he knew he'd never seen a place like that, so beautiful and strange. He'd never been off the Plains until he was enslaved and sold to the whorehouse. It didn't make any sense.

"Well, stop it. We're about to come into Ayrlin's Pass." That made Roxas blink and concentrated his attention. The road was sloping down as they reached a valley in the mountains, and there was indeed a glacier lake below them. It looked deep and blue and cold. A small, snug little town sat on its banks and Roxas could see the wood smoke drifting up in the breeze. The valley was full of ancient conifers, mostly untouched by man. Which made sense, really. The townsfolk only needed a bit for their heating and building, and logging was impractical here. How could you get the logs out of the valley in enough bulk to be worth it?

There was a small cheer as they rode into the town, and Axel flushed a little as plenty of people stopped what they were doing to point. Some of the townsfolk ran up, to greet friends and family, and Axel swung down off his horse just as three young neko girls ran up to him.

"Dad!" "Father!" "Beast! We thought you were dead this time for sure!" Axel laughed in pleasure, giving each girl a hug as their mother watched with a smile. Roxas stared at them, shocked speechless for a moment. All three of the girls had fiery red hair and snapping green eyes, although only one really resembled Axel closely. The other two had darker skin and rounder features like their mother. And they all had bushy neko tails, rather than Axel's sleek one. If Roxas hadn't known better, he would have thought they were Axel's sisters. He didn't possibly look old enough to be their father. And their mother looked much, much older. Roxas stared at her for a moment. She was a small, still pretty woman with long brown hair, deeply tanned skin and warm brown eyes. Her features were round and pleasant, and Roxas was reminded a bit of his own mother.

"Roxas, these are my daughters." Axel introduced them when things had calmed down a little. "Esmerelda, Talia and Varis. Children, this is Roxas. He's a lot meaner than he looks, so be nice to him." All three girls looked at him alertly, and then the one that looked like Axel… Esmerelda… flirted her ears at him. Roxas blushed, unable to hold it back. Attractive girls had never really noticed him, and all of Axel's daughters were very pretty indeed.

"He looks younger than us! Dad, you're horrible." Varis wrinkled her nose as Talia laughed, shoving her.

"Well, if we looked for someone his age he'd have to go to the graveyard, Varis!" Roxas blinked, wondering again how old Axel really was. These girls seemed to know a bit more about it than he'd heard so far.

"Darlings, I think your father would like to reach his nest and put his things away." Their mother interrupted gently, and Axel flashed her a grateful smile. Most of the Immortals were passing by except for the ones like him, who were busy dealing with loved ones. The three girls stepped back, chastised. "But Axel, could you come to our place for supper and bring Roxas? I'm sure the girls would like to spend some time with you."

"I would be glad to, Shela." Axel said with a smile. He always enjoyed her cooking. "Thanks." He was even glad that her mate didn't mind him coming and spending time with the girls. Sebastian's step-father most definitely minded Axel intruding in their life, but Axel wasn't about to give up his place completely, mainly because he'd done some careful observing and was sure that man wasn't treating his son the same way he treated his own children. But then, few men did. Shela's mate was an exceptional man.

As they went through the town, Roxas found he was a little disappointed and slightly nostalgic. He was disappointed in the size of the place. Ayrlin's Pass was much smaller than Immervale, only one step over a village, really. But it was very cozy and pretty, and vaguely reminded Roxas of some of the larger towns in the Swartheld Plains. The people here all seemed healthy and happy, too. It felt like a good place to be.

The Immortals' home, when they reached it, turned out to be a fortified building. It was built to be defensible but wouldn't really be that hard for a determined enemy to take. But then, why would a determined enemy assault a mercenary troops winter quarters? And the positioning of Ayrlin's Pass made it unlikely war would ever roll over it.

"So, I guess I should take Illuch's old quarters now." Axel mused to himself, then sighed. "I'm going to miss that bastard." Roxas just nodded. He'd never met Illuch, so he didn't have much to say. The quarters Axel led him to were very big, though, actually a suite of rooms. There were nice carpets on the hardwood floor, and a few paintings of sailboats on the walls. A large bookshelf filled one wall, and Axel sighed as he noticed the personal items scattered across the desk in the corner. "Oh damn. I forgot he had more stuff than I do. We'll have to clean it out. If there's anything you want to keep, go ahead." Axel planned to see if anyone else wanted the rest of Illuch's things before selling them and putting the money into the company bank. Roxas frowned, looking at the items on the desk.

"Doesn't he have any heirs or someone this should go to?" Axel shook his head, picking up a small paperweight.

"No. I already checked with Scratcher. No family, and his lover died in the battle with him." They were absolutely certain now that Illuch was dead. One of the soldiers filtering in had managed to see exactly what happened. It hadn't been nice but it had been quick. "It's sort of sad, but also a good thing, really."

"A good thing?" Roxas shot him a look, wondering how that could possibly be a good thing and feeling the old disdain coming back. But Axel just shrugged.

"When you go risking your life every year, it's not wise to have dependants. What if I hadn't come back? Right now the girls would probably get along fine, but what about when they were, oh, three? Shela would have been in dire straights without me back then." She hadn't gotten married until the kits were five, and that had largely been possible because Axel had given her enough money to make a good dowry. Marriages were partly business transactions, and while Shela's mate was a good man it was hard to say if he would have taken her if she'd been a penniless woman with three kittens. Roxas bit his lip, then nodded. Axel had a point. "Oh look!" Axel grinned as he opened the door to the bedroom. Roxas flicked his ears at the huge bed, then snorted.

"I can see where your mind is. But it's too early." He wasn't going to let Axel sex him up when it was just mid-afternoon.

"Too much work anyway." Axel went to the closet and started taking out the clothes there. "Can you… no, you won't know where. Can you get all of this out and folded? I'm going to get some boxes." Roxas nodded and Axel left the room.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting the rooms cleaned out and set up for them. When Axel moved his belongings into Illuch's old rooms, it was something of a revelation for Roxas.

"What is all this stuff?" Roxas frowned, opening a box of Axel's belongings that he hadn't gotten to yet, and blinked. "Uh…" Frowning, he lifted strands of semi-precious stones out of the box. "What in the world?"

"Hm?" Axel poked his head out of the bedroom. He'd been putting away his clothes into the walk-in closet. "Oh! Yes, that's my hobby. I make jewelry in my spare time." Roxas blinked, taken aback by that. "I also make these ornamental vial things, but they're not so popular really. It's all for fun anyway. I lost my traveling supplies when we lost the baggage train." That was why Roxas hadn't seen him making anything before. Roxas stared at the box, reaching it to pick up little bags of beads. They were all labeled with what type of bead they held, although when he opened one he saw the glass beads inside had all different kinds of patterns and colors.

"…Oh." Roxas stared blankly at the stones as Axel went back into the bedroom. For some reason the sight of the beads aroused a sharp, painful sadness in him. "Why are you so human?" He whispered to himself, then blinked and frowned. Why wouldn't Axel be human? Well. Besides the fact that he didn't seem to age. And Roxas had heard rumors that Axel survived wounds that should be fatal. The blond neko shivered. Was there some reason why he thought Axel shouldn't be human?

"Some reason you're just staring at those? Hey, you should change and get washed up before we go to Shela's. Well, unless you don't mind smelling like horse around three pretty girls." Roxas scowled at Axel as the redheaded neko looked down at him with laughing eyes, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Screw you." Roxas muttered as he went to the closet to pick out something to wear. Not that there was a lot of choice. He only had three outfits, and they were all looking a bit worn, but he'd managed to keep one of them mostly clean. He quickly changed into that, dark brown pants and a white shirt. "What do I care what your daughters think of me?"

"Young men always care what girls think of them." Axel said solemnly. "It's a fact of nature." Roxas sighed, exasperated, but privately admitted Axel had a point. He liked girls just fine and being dismissed by them was always painful.

"Careful Axel, I might take up with one of them. Esmerelda is pretty." Roxas said maliciously, and Axel winced.

"Hey! You stay away from my daughters! You're not good enough for them." Roxas snorted at that, brushing off his clothes for a moment. Axel had already changed, and it was a bit annoying. He had left some better clothes at the fortress, and he had changed into some very nice black slacks and a bright red shirt. He was also wearing a beaded necklace of dark green jade, with a pendant in the shape of a circle.

"Yeah. Did you make that necklace?" It looked well-made. Axel nodded as they started out.

"Yeah, I got a store of jade beads on the cheap when I was traveling through Rauma." Roxas lifted his eyebrows at that. He knew enough about geography to know that Rauma was across the sea. "It was a while ago."

"Hm." They walked over to Shela's house, Axel leading the way, and Roxas glanced around the town a bit more as they walked. It really was similar to a neko town, and there were quite a few neko living here, in fact. It was a bit odd. "Axel, why are there so many neko living here?" He hadn't seen nearly as many in Immervale, and most of them had been slaves.

"That's because the other side of the Pass leads into Roskar." Axel frowned as he thought about it. "They're hard on neko there. Call us sub-human. A lot of the neko who get fed up with it and can afford to leave go over the pass and quite a few of them end up here in Ayrlin's Pass. Not just that, when winter comes we sometimes send groups through the pass to try and catch any really desperate ones making the trip." Axel shrugged. "We find some of them. Others freeze to death. The pass isn't kind in the winter. It's a bit easier in the summer."

"Ah." There were dozens of tiny kingdoms across the mountains, and each had its own customs and sometimes languages. Roxas didn't know much about Roskar, but it sounded like a bad place to be. Shela's house, when they reached it, was a tidy little cottage. Axel rapped on the door firmly and Esmerelda answered the door. Roxas felt his stomach do a slow flip-flop. She had struck him as the prettiest of the three when they met in the street, but now she had changed to a rich chocolate gown with green and red embroidery, and her hair was braided with strands of beads woven in. He couldn't help but be attracted to her, although Axel was right really. Even if he'd been free, she was too good for a penniless former slave. The house and clothing all struck Roxas as firmly middle class, better than he and Sora had even when they were still on the Plains.

"Dad!" They hugged for a moment, and Roxas had to suppress a flare of jealousy as she kissed Axel messily on the cheek. It was his daughter, for gods sake! But they didn't look like father and daughter. Then Esmerelda smiled at him, and he forgot to worry about it. Her eyes were just as bright and beautiful as Axel's, but he could look at her without hate… and without that other, burning emotion underneath. "You came just in time, we were about to start without you."

"Sorry." Axel said contritely. "I didn't know we were late."

"You're not!" Valis popped her head out of the next room. "Come on Esme, don't keep them at the door, poppa is hungry." Roxas blinked, a little confused, but figured it out as they walked into the dining room. There was a huge table there, and it needed to be big to fit everyone in. Sitting beside Shela was a black haired, strong looking neko man. He smiled and nodded at Axel, who nodded back. And further down the table were two young kittens, both boys and probably six. They both looked up curiously, and Roxas could see they had their mother's eyes and their father's hair. Neko births were almost always twins and triplets, so they tended to have large families.

"Hello there. I'm Lars." The man said with a friendly smile. "Those two bundles of trouble at the end there are Timo and Raki." The two little neko boys waved shyly at Roxas, who flicked his ears back. "You would be Roxas. I hear you've met the girls already."

"Uh, yes." Roxas looked down at his plate, a little embarrassed as Esmerelda grinned at him. Then Shela brought the food in, and all the attention focused on that. It turned out that supper was chicken soup with bread rolls. The soup was incredibly good, full of carrots and potatoes and peas as well as chicken. Axel dug in with a will as conversation started around them. Roxas just let most of it slide over him… what was the Dragon festival they were talking about, for instance? He'd never heard of it.

"So how have you girls all been doing in school?" Axel asked as there was a pause, and Valis laughed as Esmerelda looked embarrassed.

"Esme failed math again. She's been taking summer courses." Shela said calmly, shaking her head at her daughter. "She keeps saying she's going to join the Immortals as soon as she turns fifteen." Roxas frowned as he caught the carefully concealed anguish in Shela's eyes. And Axel stopped eating for a moment, frowning.

"Are you still saying that, kitten? I wish you wouldn't. It's not safe." Esmerelda sighed, irritated by what she saw as parental denseness.

"I know that dad, that's the point. I want to fight! I like to fight. You can't stop me." She set her jaw mulishly.

"Technically, I can. I'm commander of the Immortals now, you know." She gave Axel a look that was full of betrayed rage, and he sighed. "But I won't, if that's what you really want. But please kitten, think about it, okay?"

"Okay." The air was a bit downcast, but Esmerelda apparently felt the need to turn it around because she suddenly spoke up cheerfully. "Dad, I was wondering! Roxas can probably tell me. At school they gave us all the sex talk, and if you're both boys does that mean you do it in the pooper? How can that possibly feel good?" Axel almost choked on his soup as Shela and Lars both stared at their daughter, appalled. The boys both burst into giggles as Roxas flushed.

"Esmerelda! We are eating here." Shela recovered first. Esmerelda grinned, unrepentant. "If you keep that up you'll be going to your room without supper, missy."

"She's definitely your daughter." Roxas muttered to Axel, who grinned. Then he raised his voice. "You'd have to ask Axel about that, actually." There was a brief silence around the table as Axel coughed.

"Mean, Roxas, very mean." It wasn't even strictly true, since Axel won the contests as often as Roxas. But Roxas did win plenty. "Um, anyway. So about the Dragon Festival. I was thinking of entering the water race." The conversation turned onto safer topics, leaving behind school and sex.

Soon, they were bidding everyone goodbye. Axel got three quick hugs and another messy kiss from Esme before they left, and Roxas was silent for a while before finally speaking.

"That makes me miss my family." He'd had three brother and sisters as well as a mother and father. They hadn't had much, they'd been dirt poor farmers actually, but they'd had each other. It was painful, seeing a happy family so close up. Axel sighed and put an arm around him. Roxas stiffened for a moment, then let himself relax against the older neko.

"I know how you feel." Roxas flicked his ears, wondering how that could be the case. That was Axel's family. But then, Axel didn't see them most of the year and he wasn't the one married to Shela. He had to feel like an outsider in his daughter's lives. Roxas snuggled up to him for a moment, almost managing to relax against Axel.

_How can you be so human? _Roxas bit his lip as the thought came back to him. Why was it so strange, that Axel would be human?

He didn't know, but imagined he would find out.


	8. Dreams of the Past

"_So."_

"_So?" Axel glanced to his side and saw a slender, blond haired man looking at him. His hair was caught in a ponytail and flowed behind him like a beautiful river of gold. It was a bit odd, though. The man seemed familiar, but Axel was sure he'd never seen him before in his life. He was sure he would have remembered that handsome face and the devil-may-care sparkle in bright blue eyes._

"_Soooooo? Axel, come on man. Don't be dense, with me of all people. You know I have a functional brain." The man leaned against the railing. "Not to mention being one of the few who can resist the dreadful force of your personality."_

"_Hmph. I should fix that one of these days, Zero." Axel glanced down over the gardens. He was standing on a balcony overlooking beautifully gardens full of orange trees and intricate topiary bushes. As he folded his arms over the railing, black armor creaked and settled. He was a warlike apparition slammed into a perfectly tranquil setting. So was Zero, in fact, although his armor was bright red and sleek, set with green crystals and edged with gold. It was almost a work of art, although Axel knew full well it was perfectly functional. The other man only laughed at Axel's threat._

"_You never will. Talking to the others is like masturbating, you might as well be doing it by yourself." Axel winced, then sighed. He knew Zero was entirely correct. "You're bored, Axel."_

"_I am, am I?" Axel caught sight of someone familiar exiting a ground floor door below him, and grinned, wondering if he could get a hit if he spat. For a moment he almost did it, but then held off. It was just too juvenile and it would start a fight for certain._

"_Extremely. You were thinking of spitting on Roxas?" Zero's voice held laughter, and Axel turned to glare at him._

"_If you can resist the force of my personality so well, can you get out of my head? Unless you want to take my place." That wasn't really possible, unfortunately. Axel sometimes thought it would save a lot of problems if he could just hand his mantle of power off to his blond friend. Zero snorted._

"_As if. I got plenty of command in my own lifetime, thanks." Zero hesitated, then spoke seriously. "Axel, we all know you have a problem. I've been sorting through your memories carefully… sorry, but I am part of you… and I think it dates back to when I joined you."_

"_Hm?" Axel's thought flitted back to a long ago time. The time humanity had left its ancient cradle and fled into the stars and into the teeth of a ghastly war. A war there was no choice but to fight, for themselves and many other species. A war that Zero had led, fighting until the bitter conclusion and then fighting after to help forge a new civilization from the ashes of the old. And finally, the great warrior had found peace of a sort, trying to be a civilian in the new community he had helped create. A civilization that had no place for a warrior like him._

"_Right. You remember how you picked me up?" Axel nodded. Zero had died in an industrial accident, trying to save as many other workers as he could. Axel was fuzzy on the details, he didn't really understand high technology, but he knew the blond had been overcome by toxic fumes. "Have you ever wondered why I went to you and not Roxas?"_

"_Psh. Not really." Zero really was a peculiar case. He was a hero and a mass murderer. He'd committed genocide against an entire race, yet it had been necessary. No one could really claim otherwise. "You would have been too much for him." Zero threw his head back and laughed, a wild, unrestrained sound._

"_That's true! But I doubt that's it." Zero scratched the back of his neck for a moment. "I must have been caught right on the edge between the two of you. I probably fell your way because I've always been so comfortable with my dark side. The thing is, I'm comfortable with my other side too. What's this done to you?"_

"_You think you've somehow changed me? You give yourself a lot of credit." Axel said dryly, and Zero grinned._

"_I'm the only one that's stayed separate from you for so long. It's not impossible, Axel." Axel frowned as he thought for a moment. Zero was right. Others had kept their own personalities but not for very long, compared to the blond. Zero had been himself for fifty thousand years now. Even for Axel, that was a long time._

"_Does it bother you, Zero? The way things have gone?" So much history had passed by. Zero was completely forgotten to the races he'd helped save. The blond shrugged._

"_Not really. I bought my people ten thousand good years before it all came unglued. And I lived over a thousand myself, and raised a bunch of good kids, mostly. What more can a man ask for?" Zero laughed, clapping him on the shoulder. "And the afterlife isn't so bad. Good company and wine, although I could do with more sex."_

"_Good luck with that around here." Axel's tone was sour, more sour than he meant for it to be. Zero was extremely heterosexual, but the others here saw him as just a facet of Axel and wouldn't touch him, mostly. And Axel himself had a longstanding lack of nookie problem. His gaze was caught by blond hair, coming back to the building this time. "You know, I don't give a fuck."_

"_About wha- AXEL!" Even Zero was appalled as a scream rang out below him. "Holy shit man, you nailed him. You're totally dead." Zero started looking for a safe haven as Axel cracked his knuckles, grinning._

_He did so love a good fight._

* * *

"Hm?" Axel blinked awake, feeling warm arms across his chest and looking down to see familiar spiky hair. "What a weird dream." Sighing, he closed his eyes and settled down to sleep again. It was far too early to be up and about. Roxas shifted, snuggling up but not waking, and Axel smiled and stroked his hears.

He couldn't imagine spitting on the little neko from a balcony. That had been a really weird dream. But now that he'd had it, he could remember Zero so clearly. Axel vaguely wondered if he would ever see the blond again, then shook his head.

"It was only a dream." Although he couldn't be completely sure of that. Too much of his history was a mystery even to him. But either way, it wasn't worth worrying about. The future would be what it would be.

The next few weeks were completely uneventful. The Immortals kept training, Roxas improved his weapons skills and Axel ran exercises with the rest of the company, getting them drilled together. Sora learned more about magic and found he had a flare for offensive magic as well as healing. Demyx was very pleased with his progress, although the company still desperately needed a good combat mage to take Tesha's place. Of course, things couldn't stay uneventful forever.

"Sora, I love you so much." Riku murmured as he gently ran his mouth over soft skin. Sora whimpered softly, turning his head to catch Riku's lips in a kiss. They were both under a tree in the town park, engaging in a bit of heavy petting. It was the middle of the day though, so there was every chance-

"RIKU!" Riku lifted his head with a grumble as he heard that shout, and Sora winced. Roxas sounded really mad. "What in fuck was your problem? Asshole!" Riku blinked as the blond stormed after, Axel following behind sheepishly.

"Huh? What are you tal-GACK!" Roxas grabbed Riku by the collar, yanking him off Sora and slamming him into the tree. Sora cried out in dismay and tried to pry Roxas off the silver haired human.

"Roxas, stop! What are you so upset over?" He asked, distraught. Roxas snarled at Riku, still glaring at him as Axel ran a hand through his hair, smoothing back the red spikes nervously.

"I tried to tell him it wasn't really Riku's fault. I mean, I said yes." Axel stepped back as Roxas tried to kick him while keeping Riku pinned to the tree. Riku looked puzzled for a moment, but then blinked in sudden comprehension.

"Oh! You mean the bet? Axel lost fair and square. Why are you so upset over it?" Riku winced as Roxas' grip on his collar tightened. Sora just looked confused.

"Why am I so upset? Why am I so upset?!? He looks like a rat!" Roxas shouted, and Sora stared at Axel who looked down sheepishly. Sora paled as he spotted Axel's tail lashing behind him.

"Wh-what?!?" Axel's tail was completely, utterly hairless. Lashing behind him, it really did resemble a rat tail. "…Ew." Sora could suddenly understand why Roxas was upset. That wasn't even remotely sexy. "You shaved your tail?"

"I ran out of money at the dice game and I was drunk so. Yeah. They let me stake that." Axel rubbed his face with one hand, looking very embarrassed. "I said I was sorry." Roxas suddenly let go of Riku to try to hit the redhead, but Axel was expecting it and danced back. Axel sighed, his ears flattening with dejection as Roxas stalked off. Riku shook his head, straightening his collar.

"Sorry Axel. I didn't know he'd go spare like that." Although even if he had, he might not have cared. Riku wasn't one to worry too much about the future.

"I wonder how long it will take to grow out?" Sora said thoughtfully, and Axel winced.

"Too long. I'm going to go see if I can make up to him." Axel doubted it, but he had to try. "Sorry Riku. When he asked me why I did it, I couldn't come up with a good lie." Riku grinned at that.

"It's okay, I can't imagine any lie that would work." Riku entertained himself for a moment trying to think of one. Caught it in weeding shears? Set part of it on fire? Yeah, none of that sounded very good. As Axel walked off, Sora burst into giggles and Riku had to grin. Axel looked _bizarre_ from behind.

"Why'd you get him to shave his tail? Were you drunk?" Sora asked, and Riku laughed.

"Yeah, drunk as hell. And I knew he'd never lose the head hair, but I figured he might go for the tail. I was right." Riku was sure Axel was going to be hearing rat jokes for a month, but that was fine. In fact, that was hilarious. "Hey, let's go see if Braven's has some of that salty-sweet ice cream you like." Ice cream wasn't at all easy to make, but with a bit of magic it was possible and Riku never bothered to save his money, so he was more than willing to get Sora some of the tasty treat. Sora beamed, taking his hand.

"Sure!" Riku smiled, imagining licking the ice cream off Sora's lips. It would be money well spent.

Elsewhere, Axel had managed to hunt down Roxas. The blond neko had gone down to the shoreline, not far from the park, and was scowling into the water. "Roxas, I'm really sorry." Axel murmured as he gently put an arm around the smaller boy, but Roxas slapped him away angrily.

"What for? It's your damn tail." Roxas grumbled, but his glower didn't ease at all. Axel hesitated.

"Then why are you so mad?" If Roxas felt that way, why was he upset? Roxas took a deep breath then glared.

"Isn't it obvious?" Axel just lifted his eyebrows, confused. "How am I supposed to put it in you when I've got THAT in my face? It's ugly as sin!"

"Oh! Ahahah." Axel couldn't help but laugh as Roxas punched him in the shoulder. "I guess this means I'm man on top for the next while, hey?" Roxas snorted and crossed his arms.

"Or you just won't get laid at all." Axel looked a bit worried at that prospect, but then Roxas relented. "Oh fine. But don't you dare try to keep it shaved or I'll kill you."

"Okay." Axel murmured softly, nuzzling Roxas throat and sliding his arms around him. Roxas tensed for a moment, then tried to relax into his embrace. They still fought for dominance all the time, but Axel was trying to be affectionate too. It was hard for Roxas to take, but he was trying.

Unfortunately, they didn't realize how prophetic his threat would prove to be.

* * *

"So this is the Dragon festival?" Sora savored every bit of ice cream. There was a stand selling tiny cups of it for five coppers each, which was very expensive but worth it.

"Yep! The Dragon Boat festival, to be precise." Sora nodded, watching wide eyed as the boats moved smoothly through the water. No one knew where the design had originated, but the dragon boats were really very long canoes. There was one being manned by the Immortals, with Axel in the lead, although…

"Seifer desperately needs to put on a shirt." Sora observed as Riku choked back a laugh. "Or shave a little." Given how well shaven Seifer's face was, not many people had expected hairy shoulders.

"I'm told some girls like that." Riku said solemnly as Sora looked disbelieving. "…" Riku suddenly frowned as he spotted a churning in the water. "Sora, what is that?"

"Um. It's a very large fish." Sora said after he stared at the water for a while. "Very large." Disconcertingly large, really. It kept jumping out of the water and at one point it jumped over Axel's boat. In fact, it seemed to be following Axel. A giant goldfish? Riku absently pulled his dice out of his pocket and rolled them, letting them fall on the ground. If anyone had been looking directly at the dice they would have seen a flash of gold as they came up double sixes. The fish in the water suddenly sank, then floated belly up. Some enterprising fisherman quickly grabbed it in a net. "Is it safe to eat that?"

"Probably not. I'll take care of it." Riku wasn't sure what the fish was, and scooped his dice off the ground before going to speak to the fisherman. He wanted it to be examined, at least. Fish like that weren't supposed to live in a glacier lake. Riku thought perhaps he would take it to Demyx.

It would interest the healer, if nothing else.


	9. Torture is Not Fun

"How extremely odd. This is a Punjada Sabrefish." Demyx had the fish neatly dissected on a bench, and was holding up something that was green and dripping. "They're tropical. How utterly bizarre. And this one seems to be tainted with fel magic."

"Fel magic? Like demons?" Riku frowned at that. He was well aware of demons. The company hadn't encountered them very often, but enough to know that they certainly existed and were quite dangerous. Of course, the problem with using them in combat was that it was simply impossible to maintain control of demons on the battlefield. It was possible to simply unleash them with a 'go in this direction' command, but if the other side dispelled it you were in trouble. Demons would eat anyone but they preferred to go after the ones who had summoned and bound them first. "Strange." Riku idly rolled his dice in his palm. Holding them made him feel a bit better. Demyx nodded.

"Extremely. We'll keep an eye out for any disturbances, but it's likely a wizard in the tropical climes somehow made a terrible error and sent the poor thing here." Demyx couldn't think of any other explanation, at least. Why would someone go to the trouble of taking an enchanted tropical fish and dumping it in the lake just to spy on them?

"Hm." Riku had a strong feeling that Demyx was dead wrong, but couldn't provide any reasons for his feeling. So he shrugged and let it go, walking out of the room. He was sure Demyx would be able to dispose of the fish properly.

But he would tell Sora about it. He was sure the little brunette would be good at sensing fel taint. Unfortunately, it was all a touch too late.

Roxas was hard at work practicing. He smiled to himself as he exercised. He had a special surprise planned for Axel this evening. He'd already gotten Sora to help him out with part of it, and he was looking forward to springing the rest on Axel. The hatred and anger seemed to be gradually leaching out of his heart, and in the past week they had gotten tenderer with each other. Sex was still rough, of course, but afterwards they could cuddle and it felt good. That warm, intense feeling that had always been under the rage and hate was getting closer to the surface.

Roxas didn't notice the small spider scuttling out of the shadows and climbing quickly up his boot. He did notice when the fangs sunk into his flesh.

"OW!" Slapping a hand down onto his leg, he crushed the spider easily. "What in the world?" Roxas stared wide-eyed at the remains of a very large, black spider. Swallowing, he examined his leg. It didn't look bad and didn't really hurt when he touched it with one finger. Maybe the spider hadn't really been venomous. Roxas frowned, then shrugged and went back to his practice. If it got worse, he would surely notice. He went back to daydreams of Axel, the way the redhead smiled at him, the warmth in those green eyes when they kissed.

_He's a monster._ Something whispered inside him, and Roxas paused.

"No, he's not." Roxas whispered to himself, then shook his head and kept practicing. But that inner voice wouldn't leave him in peace.

_Yes he is. You know that. It's why you hate him._ Roxas shivered, lowering his weapon and reaching up to touch his face. He felt hot, sweaty. He looked down at the bite on his leg but it was unchanged, not even swollen. He felt so odd though. Should he go see Demyx? _You should go see Axel._

"Why?" Roxas mumbled to himself, breathing heavily. But he knew why. It was his own thoughts, after all. "I can't. There's no way to prove he's a monster. And he isn't anyway." Although Roxas knew he was lying to himself. Some deep part of him was certain that Axel was a monster, but another part of him didn't care. And there was something else there, something deeper and more complicated, the feeling that had been struggling to break free all these weeks. But it was being drowned again under a wave of hatred. _I thought I was getting past this. Why should I go see Axel?_

_To prove what he is. You know how. _Roxas struggled against it briefly as the knowledge rose in his mind. He did know how. There was a way that was guaranteed to force Axel to eventually show his true colors. The hatred turned bitter, deadly and Roxas shuddered, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them they were hard and cold. Roxas smiled briefly as a new plan formed in his mind. And the best part was, everything he had worked out with Sora could be used for it. Axel would be so _surprised._

Roxas put his weapons away and walked back to their room, not noticing the subtle change in the bite on his ankle. It wasn't swollen or red, but the skin was going dark and sinking in slightly around the marks. If he had noticed that might have alarmed him, but there was no pain so he didn't bother to look.

"Hey Roxas!" Axel greeted him as he entered their rooms, not lifting his head, and Roxas watched him for a moment with a derisive smile. The monster was working on his beading, making a necklace out of Venetian glass and gold separators. It was almost a pity he wouldn't get a chance to finish it.

"Hey Axel." Roxas said with a smile, activating the spell Sora had laid for him by squeezing a wooden bead Sora had tied it to. It was a silence spell that would deaden the sound from there room all night. Roxas slid a knife quietly out of his belt, walking up behind the older neko. "Who are you making that for?"

"Oh, I'm making this for Valis. She wants something to wear to the autumn festival." Axel said, glancing up with a happy smile. "Aren't the beads nice? I picked them up a couple years ago in New Venice." Roxas wanted to gag. It was amazing, how convincingly Axel could pretend to care about his 'children'.

"Lovely." Roxas said smoothly, looking at the beads for a moment. They really were beautiful, gold laced with black and orange stripes. He leaned close, tangling a hand in Axel's hair and making the neko look up at him in surprise. Surprise that turned to shock as Roxas' jerked Axel's head back sharply and slid the knife across his throat in one smooth move. Blood exploded over the desk and Roxas watched with cold eyes as Axel's hands spasmed, dropping the necklace. It was already drenched in bright red blood. Roxas doubted it would be salvageable.

"?!?" Axel tried to say something, his green eyes wide and disbelieving as he looked at Roxas. But all that came out was a gasp of air, as Axel's hands went to his throat, futilely trying to stop the vast rush of blood. It was all over very quickly, and the flow stopped as Axel's heart stuttered, then failed to beat. Roxas watched as awareness left those beautiful green eyes, then dropped Axel's head, letting it fall onto the desk. He would have to hurry now. He wasn't sure how much time he would have.

Roxas dragged Axel to the bed, gritting his teeth a bit at the weight, finally getting the older neko onto the bed. He got out the silk ropes he'd planned to use for something else, and tied Axel's wrists and ankles to the bedposts. Roxas smiled darkly as he tightened the ropes. He actually had planned to tie Axel up with them, but not quite like this. Humming softly to himself, he started to cut Axel's clothing away. It would just get in the way for what he would be doing next. Glancing up, Roxas smiled as he saw the wound on Axel's throat abruptly vanish. It would be soon now. He tugged away Axel's sliced up underwear and sat down on the bed to wait.

Axel suddenly drew a breath and opened his eyes, blinking for a moment. He seemed confused, and Roxas patiently waited for him to get his wits together. His gaze settled on Roxas.

"Roxas, I had a horrible dream-" Axel suddenly stopped as he registered the tacky feeling of drying blood on his face, then glanced down and paled. "Lizard piss! Roxas, what the hell?" There was enough blood on his skin to make it clear that it had been no dream.

"So it's true." Roxas mused as Axel stared at him, shocked. "You don't stay dead." Axel's eyes narrowed in sudden anger as he squirmed against his bonds.

"If you killed me just to test that I'm going to kick your ass! Ow." Axel winced as the ropes became painfully tight. Roxas had looked into the best way to tie them, and he wasn't worried about Axel breaking free. Roxas smiled coldly, watching Axel figure that out.

"That's not why I killed you, Axel." Roxas crawled up onto Axel's naked body, and Axel shivered at the feel of cloth on bare skin. He was naked but Roxas was fully clothed. "I'm tired of this stupid game you're playing. I'm going to make you show me what you are."

"What are you talking about?" Axel sounded calm, but his lashing tail was a clear fear reaction to another neko. Roxas almost laughed at it. The fur was starting to grow back, but it was still a strange looking thing. Roxas smiled, shifting so he was straddling Axel's waist. Axel's eyes widened as he saw the knife in Roxas right hand, still stained with his own blood. "Roxas?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Axel." Roxas said calmly as he rested the knife against Axel's stomach, feeling the older neko shiver underneath him. "Hm." He shook his head, dropping the knife onto the bed instead. He wanted to try something else first.

"No, I don't! Roxas, stop, this is-" Whatever it was went unsaid as Roxas suddenly dug his fingers into Axel's throat, feeling the neko gag. Roxas could feel Axel swallow convulsively, his throat muscles moving until Roxas dug his fingers in even more, strangling the older neko. Axel thrashed wildly, trying to throw Roxas off and ignoring the way the silk cords dug into his wrists and blood began trickling down onto the bedsheets. Nothing mattered to Axel but his struggle to breathe.

It seemed to take Axel forever to die this time, and Roxas found he was enjoying every moment of it. The soft, high pitched sound as Axel struggled for air, the feeling of his writhing, and finally the way his struggles slowly slackened until he was limp and shivering, green eyes vacant and glassy. Roxas was breathing heavily when Axel finally went still, his tail stopping its restless twitching. The blond neko blinked as he realized he had a hard erection, and blushed. That hadn't been part of the plan at all. Taking a few deep breaths, he concentrated on controlling himself. Sex had nothing to do with this, and he didn't want to be turned on by what he was doing. Picking up his knife, he waited for Axel to come back again. It took a bit longer this time, but that was to be expected. The finger marks and bruises on his throat vanished just like the earlier wound, and Axel drew in a deep, shuddering breath before blinking. His horrified gaze settled on Roxas, and he wasn't confused about what was happening this time.

"Oh… god. Roxas, please stop." Axel's voice was a bit rasping now. "RIKU! SORA! HELP!" Axel suddenly screamed, and Roxas laughed, reaching down to pat his cheek. The redhead flinched away from him, his ears completely flat in his hair.

"They can't hear you. Sora put up a silencing spell for me. Of course, he thought I meant to make you scream in a different way…" Roxas smiled, sweet and poisonous, as he made a small slice across Axel's belly. "I wonder. How would you repair yourself if I removed your guts? Would you make new ones or would the old ones just slither back?"

"Roxas what in FUCK is wrong with you?" Axel's voice was high, almost hysterical. "Have you lost your mind?!? Why are you doing this to me?" Roxas paused, then bent down to speak in his ear.

"You know why. Can you feel it rising? No? You will soon." Axel swallowed. He could feel something, but only faintly. It was like a tremble of rage, a breath of something deep and terrible. "Let's get started."

The screaming became intense after that, but Roxas ignored it, his ears flicking back to muffle it a bit. Roxas was unaware of the way the dark marks on his ankle were spreading, absorbed in the feel of Axel's guts in his hands as he slowly pulled them out. The screams died into soft sobs and Roxas looked up, surprised to see tears on Axel's cheeks and in his lashes. As he watched, more tears slid down the neko's cheeks. Roxas leaned forward, licking away the tears with quick flicks of his tongue. Axel whimpered, blood slipping out of the side of his mouth. Roxas smiled at that and suddenly kissed the redhead, savoring the iron taste. Axel didn't try to resist, closing his eyes and letting his head fall to one side as Roxas pulled away. There was a splash of blood on the blond neko's cheek, but he ignored it, smiling in pleasure.

"You're being a pussy about this, Axel." Roxas said conversationally as he watched Axel cough up a mouthful of blood, more tears falling into the bedsheets. The bed was almost soaked in blood now. "It's not going to end until you do what I want." Axel groaned, shaking his head. There was a taste rising in his throat now, and it wasn't the blood. It was something bitter and sweet like poisoned honey, dark and hot and heavy. Axel thought he could reach out to it, call it to himself, but it frightened him too much. There was something terribly wrong about it. But it was getting worse as he kept dying and coming back, time after time. He wasn't sure how long he could keep it down.

Roxas watched as Axel finally passed out, breathing slowing and going irregular before falling to a halt. He didn't notice the little piece of dark power sliding away from Axel and slipping out the door. If he had, he wouldn't have thought anything of it.

Everyone underestimated Zero.

* * *

"Hey, who the fuck are you!" Riku looked up with a frown as he saw Seifer trying to stop a blond haired man. He was very handsome with bright blue eyes, and was wearing bizarre looking red and white armor with strange green crystals set in it. They looked like glass, but what kind of armor would have glass in it? Riku blinked as memories suddenly surged to the forefront of his mind.

"_Would the lovely lady honor me with a dance?" Laughter and a quick shake of the head._

"_Sorry Axel, we're only friends."_

"…_I'm not Axel, I'm Zero. Please stop that."_

"How the hell?" Riku muttered. He clearly remembered the past, although he usually kept it shelved out of his conscious awareness. It was much easier to get on as a human that way. But he hadn't believed Zero's protests at all. Their servants were shadows of what they had been in life, they couldn't have independent thought that way. Or at least, they shouldn't… but if that was the case, Zero wouldn't be able to leave Axel without Axel's will behind him. Was Axel doing this subconsciously or did Zero really have some kind of independent existence? Either possibility was equally troubling. Sora gasped as he registered the same thing.

"Why is he here?" Riku blinked as Sora made the jump to the next question and stood, suddenly worried. He needed to intervene anyway. From the look on Zero's face, he was close to turning Seifer into meat paste and Riku knew he could do it.

"Seifer, stand down!" Riku walked over purposefully as Seifer growled, glaring at the blond man who glared right back. "Zero, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Zero retorted, and Riku blinked at the fury on his face and in his voice. "What are YOU doing here, sitting around while demons are using Roxas to torture Axel? Save him you fucking MORON!" Zero vanished in an explosion of dark power, making everyone in the room gape as Riku paled and Sora gasped.

"Shit!" Riku ran out of the room to Axel's quarters, slamming open the door and ignoring the tingle of a silence spell. Roxas looked up from his work, surprised, and Riku almost gagged as the stench of blood and other, less savory things hit him. It smelled like a slaughterhouse and the bed wasn't just wet with blood, it was soaked, permeated like a sponge. Riku moved faster than he knew he could, tackling Roxas off the bed before he could bring the knife down again. Sora sobbed, horrified as he tried desperately to heal Axel as Riku and Roxas struggled on the floor.

"Let me kill him! You know what he is! I need to show the world!" Roxas screamed as Riku knocked the knife out of his hand. Riku slammed him into the floor, snarling.

"Damnit Roxas, you're sabotaging everything!" Riku remembered what Zero had said about demons, and quickly searched Roxas with his other senses. "Shit!" There was a clear taint patch spreading through Roxas. It shouldn't have affected him, but that was part of the problem. Riku let go of Roxas wrists to spread his hands, chaotic fractals bursting into life in a surge of power. Riku was vaguely aware that Demyx and the company wizards would feel it, but it didn't matter. The fractals flowed over Roxas' wound, purging the poison out of the blond neko, and he suddenly slumped to the ground in a faint. That was probably good, Riku thought. He would need time to cope with what he had done and hysteria right now wouldn't be helpful.

"Sora, get Axel to our rooms." Riku saw people walking into the room, heard exclamations, and cursed. "All of you out! Seifer, help Sora." Seifer went pale as he glanced around the room, but nodded and went over to help cut Axel free. The redhead was sobbing, this time in relief. "I'm taking Roxas to Demyx. Everyone, back to your duties or I'll dock you a weeks pay!" That cleared everyone out, but Riku knew he was going to have to explain everything. And sooner rather than later.

He wasn't looking forward to it, but you did what you had to do.


	10. Muse of Murder

"Okay." Riku glanced around the room. It was a day later, and things were… not good, really. Axel was slumped in his chair, staring at the floor and Roxas looked like a used tissue, damp and wrung out. When he'd come out of his faint in the infirmary, he'd had a really big crying jag and then gone into a depression. It wasn't much like Roxas, but the whole situation was completely abnormal. Axel had been hiding for a while in Sora's and Riku's bed, but they had finally coaxed him out to come to this meeting. "I imagine you all have a few questions."

All the important people were there. Demyx, Seifer, Leon, Raven and the final squad leader, a neko named Sel were all present. And looking suspiciously at Riku, in most cases. Only Raven seemed serene, but that was her normal expression even on the battlefield. Sora was there as well, sitting beside Riku. He was as involved as all of them, and knew it.

"You might say so! What was that power you used on Roxas, Riku? It felt like a god!" Riku winced. Trust Demyx to make that comparison immediately.

"Close, but no cigar Dem." Riku sighed, looking down at his dice and tossing them only the table. They bounced a few moments and came up double sixes. "Have you heard of the muses?"

"Muses? You mean like art, music, that sort of thing?" Leon hazarded with a frown. Riku nodded, expression serious.

"Yes, but it's not limited to that. Muse is the name humans gave to us. What we are, though, is the personification of abstract concepts." Riku rolled his dice again, and this time they flashed and turned gold. Demyx stared as they turned up double ones, with little diamond skulls for dots. "I'm Lady Luck, the muse of luck and chaos." There was a brief pause as everyone stared at him. The only one not at all surprised was Sora. "Sora here is the muse of magic, Demyx. Axel and Roxas are muses as well."

"This is bullshit." Seifer said bluntly. "You're a guy, Riku. Lady Luck is a girl." Demyx winced faintly as Riku grinned.

"Lady Luck is whatever she damn well pleases, Seifer. But if you insist…" There was a brief shimmer of fractals and Roxas gasped, his ears flattening as Riku became the woman from his dream. She was still wearing Riku's clothes, but they didn't fit very well over suddenly lush curves. She smiled, tossing her hair back for a moment, her aquamarine eyes glowing with amusement. Then there was that shimmer of chaos, and Riku was back. "I'd prefer to stay with this body at the moment."

"Uh." Demyx swallowed hard before shaking his head. "I see. I have never heard of such a thing, but the power is impressive. You said Axel and Roxas are muses too?" He glanced at the two neko. Axel was looking stunned at the revelation about himself, and Roxas just seemed confused. "They don't seem to know that."

"That's part of the problem." Riku sighed as he remembered it. "It's like this. Axel is the muse of murder and dark war." Axel swallowed at that and Roxas stared at him. Somehow, that didn't seem very surprising to him, and he realized that on some level, he'd known all along. "He was one of the very first muses to come into existence, along with me. We've been friends forever. Roxas and Sora both came later. Roxas is the muse of glorious war and justice." Roxas blinked at that. "Basically, Axel is all the dark aspects of war while Roxas is everything positive."

"Shouldn't they have been one muse?" Raven murmured thoughtfully. "It seems curious." Riku nodded.

"It's just the way we grew over time. Axel came into being an incredibly long time ago, when conflicts were ugly and mostly tribe against tribe. There was no honor and only loyalty to the people who meant something to you." Riku glanced sadly at Roxas. "Which is a basically how Axel approaches his life. He's not really a monster, he just is what he has to be. Roxas is far more complicated… he's loyalty, honor and courage in the face of danger." Riku hesitated. "There's a bit of overlap. Axel is courage too, but more bloody minded, if you know what I mean."

"I think I get it." Leon suddenly said. "Axel is more like a merc. We sell our skills for money and our first loyalty is each other. Where Roxas is more like someone fighting for his country because he believes in it."

"Exactly!" Riku was grateful for the comparison, and nodded. "Well, Axel and Roxas never liked each other. That was okay for quite a while, but some time ago things started to get worse. Axel kept picking fights with Roxas and generally causing trouble. We live in a kind of alternate reality, and they managed to destroy a lot of it once. Sora had to reweave everything, and it wasn't pretty. After the last incident, Axel was banished and consigned to a human form until he learned to behave." Riku shrugged. "How we would determine when he'd done that was up in the air."

"Wait… if you guys are the incarnations of abstract concepts, don't you have any that could tell the future or something?" Seifer interrupted, and Riku rolled his eyes as Sora laughed.

"There's the muse of fate, but he just giggles a lot when you ask him anything." Sora volunteered. "That probably means something cosmic, but no one can get him to tell them why he's laughing."

"Right… anyway, when Axel was banished things seemed to be fine for a while. But then Roxas started acting up." Riku picked up the story again, glancing at the blond. "It seemed like he was trying to take Axel's place, all by himself. And he was always more clever than Axel so his efforts were threatening to draw everyone else in. He managed to set the muse of music and the muse of literature to wrangling. Have you heard of Tatili Ecrepi saga's?"

"Those horrible things they perform in Tatili? The ones that are all about the color of her eyes and the sheep in the fields?" Demyx made a face. "I had to sit through one once. What about them?" Riku grinned.

"When we fight, humans tend to get the aftereffects. That was the result of music and literature fighting. Don't ask what happened when Sora and the muse of technology got into it, it was ugly. Fortunately, it happened on a different planet." Sora looked faintly embarrassed as everyone else looked puzzled. "Anyway, soon Roxas was just as much of a pest as Axel and he got banished too."

"Look," Axel broke in. "It's not that I'm doubting you or anything, Riku, but I can't remember any of this. Shouldn't I remember it?"

"I don't remember anything either. Why?" Roxas added as Sora and Riku exchanged a glance.

"We don't know why." Sora said gently to his brother. "Riku and I came to look after you and Axel, and I realized quickly that you didn't know what was happening. You should have always known in the back of your mind what was happening like Riku and I did. We think it might be a symptom of the problem." Riku nodded.

"Something is wrong with the two of you, but no one is sure what. It's really interesting that you fell in bed together the way you did. We were expecting you to try to kill each other." Roxas flushed as he was reminded of his hatred for Axel, and looked down. Strangely, the hate and anger seemed almost gone now. And the other feeling was much harder to ignore. Roxas lifted his head to look at Axel, but the redhead avoided his eyes, looking pale.

"So who was that blond man? The one you called Zero?" Raven asked, and Riku frowned slightly. Thinking about Zero was making him a touch uneasy.

"Oh… that was a shadow self. When mortals who have managed to really identify with one of us die, they are given the opportunity to become one with us. It's very uplifting, being able to join the thing you've lived all your life, so most accept. Zero is one of Axel's shadow selves, but he seems to have more autonomy than most." Axel blinked at that, lifting his head.

"He's fully separate, Riku." Axel rubbed his face with one hand tiredly. "I had a dream about him where we discussed it."

"While this is fascinating, I think there's a more important question to be answered." Leon interrupted, fixing Riku with a hard stare. "Why did a demon do that to Roxas and Axel?"

"This is only a guess." Riku said reluctantly. "But Axel's power is very dark and at the moment, he and Roxas are both vulnerable. Roxas is no good to a demon, but Axel might be absorbable." Axel blinked at the thought, and Roxas stared at him. "I think they were trying to rouse Axel's true aspect so they could devour it."

"Eww." Demyx muttered. "Quite possible, I was taught that's what demons do to their own kind when one of them becomes vulnerable." Sora nodded. When he was fully aware of his status as the muse of magic, he knew all about that.

"It's how they gain rank, too." Sora said soberly. "Taking the power of the muse of murder would be a huge coup." Axel shivered faintly at that term for himself. It sounded horrible.

"So what do we do about it?" Axel let the discussion roll over him. He just couldn't focus on it. His thoughts kept going back to Roxas and what had happened between them, his gaze kept straying over to the blond. But he didn't know what he felt anymore. He knew he'd loved Roxas with a fierce, uncomplicated love. Axel had wanted to hold Roxas forever, savoring his dangerous edges and the way they sometimes hurt him as well as the tender times. _But anything can die if you pierce it enough._ Axel shivered at the thought, closing his eyes as his mind replayed what had happened to him, shying away from the worst moments. Could he really get past that?

"Axel." Roxas' voice sounded full of tears, as if he'd known exactly what Axel was thinking about. Axel looked up and found that Roxas was sitting beside him now. He must have asked Demyx to move. The rest of the room was glancing at them as they talked, but Axel didn't care. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Axel looked into his blue eyes and saw the truth there, the anguish.

"Roxas." His own voice sounded rusty, and he coughed for a moment. "Roxas… turn around." Roxas blinked but moved a bit in his chair, then yelped in surprise as Axel buried his hands in the fur of his tail. Axel closed his eyes for a moment, then began grooming the soft blond fur, exactly like a mother neko would do for her kittens. It was a very relaxing, intimate thing to do, and Axel could feel some of the tension and fear draining away immediately. Roxas was relaxing, too, under the gentle touch. "I… love you Roxas." Axel managed to say, and the words didn't feel like a lie. They were still true, despite what he had gone through.

"Axel." Roxas took a deep, shuddering breath. "I love you too." And that feeling suddenly flowered inside him, and he knew what that intense, painful feeling had always been. It was love, suppressed and denied for so long. How long? For a brief moment, Roxas felt the weight of endless years spent wrangling with the redhead while they both wanted to kiss, not kill, and neither one could admit it. _Was that what was wrong with us? Was this what we wanted all along? _But they weren't healed yet. Roxas could feel it, and the vision slipped away as quickly as it had come and he was only a young neko again. Although Roxas supposed he would come back from the dead too, just like Axel. Arms slid around him from behind, and Roxas gripped Axel's wrists tightly.

He needed to be held and Axel needed to hold him. Together, they would not break.

"That's soooo cute." Roxas yelped in dismay as a familiar voice whispered in his ear and made Axel start, then glare at the suddenly materialized Zero. "But not one of you is thinking of the obvious problem with all these plans you're making." Zero added as he straightened, looking at Riku in particular. The silver hair looked annoyed at the interruption by what he couldn't help but think of as a small part of Axel.

"What flaw are you talking about?" They had been discussing how to lure the demon lord working against them out where they could crush him properly. Zero grinned wickedly.

"Oh, I dunno. Just all the, ya know, CIVILIANS in the town?" Zero's tone was more than a touch caustic as Riku paled. "Who would kind of get EATEN by a demon horde? Maybe you should take this whole thing to Roskar. Demons would almost be an improvement." Riku cursed and Axel suddenly reached up to grab Zero's wrist. He had the feeling the blond was going to vanish on him again.

"Don't go?" Green eyes met dark blue, and Zero smiled.

"Hey, if that's what you need from me Ax, I'll be right here. You only have to want me anyway, you know, and I'll always be there." Zero flopped down on the floor beside Axel, resting his head against the redhead's chair and smiling. Roxas shot him a less than friendly look and Zero laughed. "C'mon Roxas, don't look at me like that. I like the ladies, and I prefer 'em small and oriental. Axel is so far out of my type that it's not funny."

"If you like them small and oriental, why did you hit on me so much?" Riku muttered and Zero laughed again. Riku was beginning to really wonder if Zero could be independent, and that was an unpleasant thought. It hinted at a greater instability in Axel than he'd thought, or maybe something profoundly odd about Zero. A shadow self having a truly independent existence was a bit like a split personality in a human.

"I was desperate to solve my lack of nookie problem. Speaking of which." Zero gazed at Raven thoughtfully, and she gave him a thoughtful look right back. "Would the lovely lady let me buy her a drink?" What could have been a corny pickup line sounded smooth and inviting in Zero's mouth. Raven smiled faintly.

"I'll consider it, if I come with you to Roskar." Some of them would have to stay, to manage the Immortals. "If we go to Roskar." That was hardly decided, but it was a logical place to go. It wasn't like they cared what happened to it, and Zero was right, they needed to get out of town. Axel's thoughts strayed to his three daughters and his son, and he shuddered. The thought of them in the middle of a battle with demons was ghastly.

Although going to Roskar was ghastly too, for a neko at least. But Axel decided he didn't care, and just cuddled Roxas. Riku could do the thinking for now.

He wanted to think with his heart.

* * *

Later that night.

"Roxas, I'm not sure I can do this." Axel said wretchedly as he and Roxas shared a bed. Touching Roxas' tail was one thing, but doing more… he just wasn't sure he could bear it. Particularly if Roxas fought him for the top. He didn't think he could take the feeling of being restrained right now without screaming. Roxas looked down. He could guess what was going through Axel's mind.

"It's okay, Axel. I'll... I'll let you top me." That was hard for Roxas to offer. It just wasn't his nature to calmly allow it, and the experiences at the whorehouse had scarred him too. Roxas put his arms around Axel, feeling the older neko stiffen for a moment before burying his face against Roxas' neck, shivering.

"If you think you can." Axel whispered, and Roxas swallowed, blinking rapidly. It was so like Axel to worry about him even when he was so afraid and hurt.

"I don't deserve you." Roxas ran his hands through bright red, spiky hair, sniffing quietly. Axel lifted his head, his eyes laughing and a small smile on his face. Somehow, that had cheered him up.

"Hey, if Riku's right, I'm the one who doesn't deserve you. Muse of murder, that sounds awful." Axel cupped Roxas' face in his hands and kissed him. It was a slow, loving kiss, quick darting touches of tongue and warm lips. Right now, it was comforting. Axel sighed and trailed kisses down Roxas chest, finding one of his nipples and gently running his tongue over the sensitive skin. Roxas made a soft, surprised sound and ran his hands through bright red hair, finding Axel's ears and stroking them. The short fur felt soft and pleasant under his fingers. Axel purred slightly at the touch, a rumbling sound that made Roxas shiver. Neko could purr, but very rarely did, and he'd never heard Axel make that sound before. Axel made his way lower, running his fingers over Roxas sensitive thighs, making the younger neko squirm a little before he slowly licked his erection.

"Axel." Roxas closed his eyes, feeling that warm feeling welling up again. The love he felt for his redheaded partner. It almost obliterated the hate, rage and memories. Axel suddenly took him in his mouth, all the way to the back of his throat, and Roxas' eyes opened wide as he swallowed around him. "Ah-!" Roxas gripped Axel's shoulders tightly, his fingers digging into the skin until Axel winced. Reminded, Roxas let go of the redhead and gripped the covers instead, trying to push up into that wet heat. But Axel had a hand firmly on his base and Roxas groaned as the older neko swallowed again. Well-lubed fingers found his entrance, and Roxas hissed as Axel slid in a finger. But with the pleasure around him it was easy to ignore, and Axel quickly added a second, stretching him out. The blond neko moaned softly, tossing his head as Axel gently rubbed his sensitive spot and sucked on him. "Keep this up… and I'll come… right now…" Roxas panted and groaned as Axel drew away.

"Can't have that." Axel said, smiling teasingly, and Roxas was relieved to see the familiar sparkle back in those brilliant green eyes. Then he groaned again as Axel gripped his hips, slowly sliding into him. The redhead was just so damn big, it was always a little painful but oh, so good. "Roxas." Axel kissed him again and Roxas was almost overwhelmed by the feeling of the older neko inside him, on top of him, in his mouth. Then Axel began to slowly thrust, and Roxas cried out as he brushed that sensitive spot again and again.

Their lovemaking was slow and tender, and Roxas kissed Axel's shoulder, nuzzling his throat, instead of biting the way he usually did. And Axel kept the pace slow, almost torturously slow, stroking the blond in time with each thrust… until Roxas tightened around him, his erection throbbing and close to release. Axel gasped and suddenly thrust in quickly, pounding against that special spot and making Roxas howl as his release suddenly hit, spraying them both with white fluid. Axel came a moment later, eyes closing at the moment of pure pleasure. They stayed tangled together for a moment, before Roxas wiggled. It wasn't a movement of desire; more of a _you're heavy, get off_ message. Axel pulled away slowly, and Roxas shivered at the empty feeling, then sighed as the weight left him. Axel pulled Roxas close, and the blond neko curled up against the elder's chest. Although.

"Axel? Can you stop purring, please? This is like trying to sleep on a carriage wheel." Roxas said sleepily, and the rattling purr stuttered, then stopped.

"Sorry. I'm just happy." Axel said with a smile, running hands through soft blond hair. "You know, today is the first time you ever said you love me." Roxas' breath caught in his throat as he realized that was the truth.

"Sorry, Axel." It made him feel terrible to realize he'd never said those words to Axel. Axel had said them plenty to him… or at least tried to, before Roxas had hit him. The redhead just shook his head and nuzzled his cheek.

"Don't be. It feels so special now." Roxas opened his mouth to say something else, but Axel put a finger over his lips. "And before you ask, yes, I forgive you." Roxas couldn't help but laugh. That had been what he was going to ask.

"Mmm." They fell asleep together, comforted in each other's warmth, oblivious to a spider watching them from the wall. It scuttled away, sliding through a crack and vanishing.


	11. Kick Down the Gates of Hell

The Demon Lord Phadrex glowered at his master darkly, secure in the knowledge he couldn't be seen. He was a huge demon with skin the color of a rotten orange, with horny growths and protrusions, but his powers of darkness were vast. He was easily hidden from his master.

His master was the very picture of what a Dark Prince should be. Graceful and elegant, Prince Phillipus had dark blue eyes and lovely black hair, a handsome face and graceful, curving horns. Appearance wise, he was the epitome of demonic handsomeness, fit to make all the succubi and plenty of stupid human girls swoon.

Phadrex ground his teeth together in rage at the thought. If only his master had a brain in that handsome head! But he didn't. Phadrex had been assigned to serve him after a rather embarrassing failure and had known at the time it was a punishment. But it was not a punishment he could avoid and survive, so he'd accepted his service with ill grace. After a thousand years of being taunted by demons that should have been his lesser, he was willing to do almost anything to improve his position. And he was not of the noble blood so that meant either managing to convince another Prince to take him or assisting this _idiot_ against his brothers.

Alas, his negotiations with another Prince had fallen through. So he'd used one of the Prince's succubi to gently suggest the new course. He listened to his concubines, of all the damn things. Not that there was anything wrong with looking to succubi for advice. They were often as intelligent as they were evil, and inveterate backstabbers. But you didn't take their advice in military matters over a demon like himself, damn the darkness! Lord Phadrex sighed to himself, relaxing his jaw. His teeth were starting to ache, and if he let that continue he'd give himself a headache. There was no reason to add physical discomfort to his mental pain. Fortunately the concubines suffered from lack of status along with him and had been receptive to his plans. Together they had convinced Prince Phillipus to try to acquire the power of the Muse of Murder.

Phadrex smiled unpleasantly as he thought about the little side plot in the main show. The Prince assumed, in his arrogance, that he would overmaster the Muse and add its power to his own. He wasn't considering the differences between a Muse and a demon, but Phadrex had thought long and hard about it. He didn't think the idiot Phillipus could actually master the Muse. No, he thought the Muse would add the Prince's power to his own and in doing so, become a true demon. The Muse of Murder wasn't far from a demon in the first place. It wouldn't take much.

And when the Muse was a demon, perhaps he would come rule this realm and teach the other demon Princes to know fear. Or perhaps he would spurn the demonic realm, in which case Phillipus holdings would be broken up and his demons given to other Princes. That wasn't the ideal outcome in Phadrex's mind, but it would do. Anyone he was given to would have to be more competent than this moron. It wasn't possible to be less competent and still breathing.

Rubbing his horny hands together, Phadrex snorted and considered his next move. Walking away briskly, he found his mate, Zifiel. She was a thin and spidery creature, fitting given that she was a demoness of the Spider Pits. Wild white hair flew around a face that would have horrified a human with its infernal ugliness, but to Phadrex she was more desirable than any comely succubi.

"What word have you?" He rumbled, squatting down beside her. She was looking into a spider web, dozens of spiders climbing over each other in their eagerness to please their mistress.

"They have left the nest." She lifted out one small spider and ate it, chitin crunching in her teeth. None of the remainders seemed to mind. "They fear we would harm their kith and kin." Phadrex grunted. That was not a baseless fear. It would be extremely reckless for them to dare an open attack, but his master was not known for patience. "They travel to Roskar, where the Muse will not care what becomes of the humans about him." Phadrex rubbed a horn absently, thinking about the Muse's attributes. He was more than a simple murderer. Phadrex had researched him extensively and knew that the Muse never took psychotics or those without any conscience. No, the ones he took were those who were people like any others… but who loved the killing. Most of his shadow selves had had families, allies, people they treasured. But for them, death was their trade and it was a trade they loved. Just like them, the Muse could know love and value others. It was a strength and a weakness.

"The other Muse would be best." He considered it, then grunted. "But dangerous." Roxas could not access his powers consciously at the moment, but if anything was going to change that being kidnapped by demons would be it.

"One of the humans might do… but protections have been laid on his families." Zifiel toyed with her web idly. "By the Muse of Magic. Hard to break." Her tongue, riddled with bumps and protrusions, flicked out to run over her cracked lips. "Mayhap one of the ones traveling with him. They would be easier if less beloved." Phadrex considered it, then nodded. If the Muse didn't take the bait, the demons would have a toy for a while. And a kidnapping was infinitely less risky than open combat. Open battles between demons and mortals were an invitation for the forces of light to step in, and that almost always went very badly for the demons.

"Aye. Do you wish to come?" She grinned, showing crooked and jagged yellow teeth.

"Do I?" Cackling, she scuttled up the wall, multiple limbs gripping like the spider she so resembled. "Of course! Finally." Her eyes glowed red with bloodlust and joy. "Soon, all our plans shall bear fruit."

"Aye, they will." Phadrex chuckled darkly as he unlimbered his great axe, walking towards the room of portals. It would take a great deal of power and some time for them to reach the Muse of Murder, but they would. And some things were best handled personally.

The stakes were high now. Phadrex wanted to deal with this himself.

* * *

Axel fingered the bronze slave chain at his throat as he threw another log into the fire. They were into Roskar now, although they hadn't reached a town yet. That was just fine by him. He wasn't at all looking forward to it.

The redhead had traveled through Roskar as a free neko once, and had ended up wearing a heavy cloak to conceal it. Now he was going as a slave, which was arguably an improvement. They had decided to pretend that Riku was a traveling merchant, with Sora and Roxas being his prized slaves in their silver chains and Axel being physical labor. Raven and Seifer were both along for the ride, along with Fuu and Raiden. That was as many people as Axel had wanted to bring to what promised to be an ugly scene. Raven, Seifer and the other two all had magical weapons that would be effective against demons, but most of the company didn't.

"It seems so strange, seeing you in that chain." Roxas said softly and Axel flipped his ears, amused.

"Eh, it's just another chain. Mercs wear all the gold and silver jewelry they can, after all." Axel flicked his tail towards Seifer and the others. Seifer, Raiden and Fuu all had plenty of thick gold chains. Raven was a little different, favoring amulets and strands of gems, but Axel knew that was because she was great at gem trading. Most mercs couldn't keep up with what was cheap and where to sell it for profit, so they preferred the gold. Right now Raven was favoring peridot and moonstone strands that would sell well in Roskar. Roxas shook his head, silently disagreeing. To him, a slave chain was very different from other jewelry because of what it symbolized. He might be wearing a silver chain now, but Roxas couldn't forget what had happened to him that easily. "Where are Zero and Raven?" Axel asked, changing the subject, and Roxas suddenly laughed.

"Getting acquainted out of earshot." Axel shook his head, a little amused by Zero's quick approach. He was as much in Zero's head as Zero was in his, so he knew the blonde was capable of long and conscientious courtships… but the thousands and thousands of years with almost no luck had been quite a trial for such an active man. If he'd still been mortal he probably wouldn't have been able to stand it at all, but being a shadow self to a Muse had many advantages.

"Well, I hope they have fun." Axel didn't doubt they would. Zero had no doubts about his ability as a lover and even the most cursory examination of his memories made Axel agree with his estimate. It helped that Zero was a powerful psionic. He knew when he was hitting the g spot. If the blonde hadn't been so unremittingly heterosexual, Axel might have been tempted to start something, although that would have gotten the others making bad jokes about masturbation. It was probably just as well it had never happened.

"I'm sure they will." Roxas didn't really care one way or the other, though. Sliding up beside Axel, he ducked his head against the redhead's side. Axel smiled and gently scratched his ears, holding the smaller neko close. "A warm fire, wine and good company. What more do we need, Axel?" Roxas mused as he looked into the fire, feeling warm and loose. Axel flicked his ears then grinned.

"More wine would be nice." With a small laugh, Roxas passed over his canteen. Axel took a pull and blinked. "Smooth. Is this Raven's?" She always had the best wines, it was her hobby. Roxas nodded.

"Don't tell her I took it." He knew she wouldn't be terribly amused, although it had been in the general supplies. Axel laughed and shook his head.

"Wouldn't dream of it." And they just sat together, drinking the wine and watching the fire crackle and pop. They were quite oblivious to events happening elsewhere.

"Mmm, Zero." Raven sighed in pleasure as the blonde man explored her. They had just met, but he was smooth, handsome and definitely her type. And it had been so long since she'd really indulged this side of her nature. Blue goggles and armor were removed, her cloak used as a makeshift bed for them both. Zero's clothing vanished effortlessly, revealing a body that was almost the ideal of male beauty. Raven couldn't recall ever seeing someone so perfect. Fingers massaged her skin, finding all the best spots and making her groan. "Ah, yes!" She reciprocated the attention, opening her eyes to gaze into deep blue –

"Agah?!?" Her head abruptly shot up as she spotted something behind Zero that was NOT part of her erotic dreams. More like a hideous nightmare. Zero, his mind linked to hers through his empathy and telepathy, felt her surge of panic and reacted instantly, whirling around. Hair flew around him as he caught a fist in a hard grip, trembling slightly at the strain of holding it back.

Phadrex, meanwhile, was stunned that any human could have done such a thing. The blonde had moved like the wind and had more strength than any mortal – his nostrils suddenly flared as he took in the scent and realized what he was facing. A shadow self, but one about to lay with a woman? That made no sense. Shadow selves were supposed to have no desires outside of their merge with the Muse. Then Zero kicked him firmly in the chest, tossing the demon back and recalling him to action. Raven scrambled for her weapons and armor as Zero called back his armor and attacked. He sent a jolt to Axel, but it would be some time before the redhead could find them.

Against the Muse himself, or even Zero as he'd been before he joined Axel, Phadrex and Zifiel wouldn't have stood much of a chance. But in some ways Zero was weaker than he'd been as a mortal, the power of technology denied to him and only a trickle of Axel's energies available. His psionic powers were his greatest asset and Zifiel reeled in pain as he shocked her with pulses of pain. Phadrex and Zero's duel was distressingly even, with both taking gashes. Then…

"Raven, no!" Zero shouted as she leapt for Zifiel's back. But the demonness was far too quick, leaping into a tree and then lashing out with both feet, catching the girl on the head with a sickening crack. Zero swore and threw his weapon, impaling Zifiel to the tree and making her scream in anguish. But that moment of distraction was all Phadrex needed to catch the blonde by the throat, lifting him easily into the air. Zero kicked the demon but was unable to escape, and Zifiel gripped the hilt of his sword, yanking it out of her body with a sob of pain. She gripped it tightly though, holding it to herself with her powers. He couldn't recall it.

"I thought we would take the girl." Phadrex rumbled, glancing at the crumpled Raven. "But she may be dead… and I think you will do even better." He grinned, his teeth sharp and the color of dirty ice. "Time to go." They vanished into the brush, carrying away the blonde, just as Axel and the others arrived on the scene.

"Raven! Dogshit!" Seifer knelt down by her, feeling for a pulse. "She's alive. Sora, can you do something?" There was blood all over the place and Raven's lips were turning blue. Sora swallowed and nodded, beginning to cast magical spells. Then he winced as he realized how badly Raven was injured and pulled on his power as a Muse instead. No mortal wizard could repair such massive damage to the brain, but the Muse of Magic was capable of miracles. Bones and flesh knit together as he worked and Axel cursed as he tried to locate Zero and couldn't.

"Zero's gone! Riku, what should I do?" Axel didn't know what this meant, but he was sure Zero hadn't gone willingly. Riku hesitated, then spoke firmly.

"Axel, you need to cut him off." Axel stared at him, confused. "You need to stop giving him power. You need to cut him off from you." Riku was certain of that. If the demons could control one of his shadow selves, they would have a certain amount of power over Axel. The redhead's eyes widened as he realized what Riku was saying.

"Riku, you ass! I can't kill him!" That was what it would amount to. Zero had already died once and existed now only because he was part of Axel. Without Axel's power, his existence would come to an end. Riku shook his head.

"Axel, I know Zero is… is more separate from you than a shadow self should be, but you can't risk yourself because of it." Riku said a touch desperately. He had a feeling Axel wasn't going to listen. "The demons mean to lure you into a trap!" He was certain of that.

"I don't care." Axel snapped back, his green eyes flashing, and he felt Roxas agreement as the blonde stared at what had been done to Raven. The Muse of Glory and the Muse of Murder were very different but they had overlap, and this was an area they agreed. They didn't abandon their friend and companions. "Sora can show us the way to the demon realm. We'll go there, get Zero back and put an end to this!" Axel felt that bitter heaviness surging up inside himself, and for the first time, he embraced it instead of fearing it. Dark energy flowed through him like poisoned honey, sweet and thick and heavy. Dark armor slid around him and Riku just stared for a long moment.

"…Very well." Riku slid back into his female form, white hair dancing around her shoulders, her gown spangled with chaos. "We don't need Sora for that." Lady Luck rolled the dice, and they came up double sixes. A portal opened, hot, fetid air gushing out from it as it illuminated the clearing with a dark orange glow.

"I've always wanted to storm the gates of Hell." Seifer said with a grin as Raven sat up, dazed. "You guys ready to go?" Raiden gulped and Fuu looked resolute. Roxas and Axel had no hesitation, stepping through without a word. Seifer followed a moment later, not looking back.

Hell didn't frighten him.


End file.
